AEGiS-WashBlade: Television: MTV protects you: MTV's new ad campaign to fight STDs and HIV gives a new flava to a very old broth.

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Television: MTV protects you: MTV's new ad campaign to fight STDs and HIV gives a new flava to a very old broth.

Washington Blade - July 12, 2002
Brian Moylan

MTV is one of the greatest guilty pleasures on TV, and with all the queer housemates on "Real World," gay hotties on "Undressed" and anything having to do with Ricky Martin, there is always some programming that gays will enjoy. Starting in late June, the music and pop culture network started airing public service announcements during its commercial breaks to target gays as well. The new spots, by big-time director Joel Schumacher (the man behind "Batman and Robin" and "Flawless"), feature groups of black and Latino men talking about sexually transmitted disease and HIV prevention and testing and how they felt after getting their test results.

The spots are just the beginning of the "Protect Yourself" campaign, a year-long blend of PSAs, programming and interactive media that will help educate MTV viewers about risky sexual behavior, sexual health and STD prevention.

"I think any platform is a good platform, but we [at MTV] feel like we have to because our demographic is mainly 18- to 24-year-olds, and that demographic is coming to terms with its sexuality and doesn't always have the information they need," says Brian Graden, the openly gay president of entertainment for MTV and VH1. "The audience craves the information, and we can't just sit on the sidelines."

THE MOST IMPRESSIVE aspect of this campaign is that it targets young gay men of color, a group that has one of the fastest rising rates of HIV infection, but a population that has never been the target of a national prevention campaign such as this one. MTV also teamed up with BET to ensure that these spots would reach the largest number of young men possible.

"I think that the more direct you are with any message, the better. I don't think you need a subgroup for everything, but there was such an astounding disproportion in the infection rates of these men. Because of that, we chose to forgo our motto of æone message for one world,'" Graden says. "We needed to target that audience just because the data was so overwhelming."

To find men for the spots, the MTV crew talked to young gay men of color who were willing to talk frankly about sex, sexuality and HIV on camera.

"A lot of people backed out when they realized they were going to be speaking to the nation about this," says Steven Friedman, VP of strategic partnerships and public affairs at MTV, and another out exec.

"I think some of the men thought there was such a stigma about it in their community that they couldn't speak out, especially because there were so few role models for them in their communities. But now, these guys are going to be the role models for the next generation, so they won't be afraid to speak out." The spots are very effective, but even though they are directed at young men who have sex with men, and there is frank discussion about sexuality, the "G" word never comes up.

"I think we learned as we were doing this that so many young men don't even identify as gay, and to even address these as gay spots or make these about gay men would miss a huge part of the community that doesn't identify as gay," Friedman says.

IN THE NEXT several months, the network has several programs planned to help keep the message in the PSAs in the audience's mind. "Dangerous Liaisons," a news-type program, will look at risky sexual behavior, like mixing sex and drugs and being in violent relationships, that could lead to STD infection.

There's also a made-for-MTV movie in the works called "Everybody's Doing It," which looks at how our public schools deal with sex education and the effects of the current "abstinence only" curriculum that is being taught in many American schools.

Friedman says blending news and entertainment is the best way to get the message across to viewers, young and old. "They're not thinking of this as entertainment, but thinking about it as news that changes they way they are behaving," he says.

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