Wall Street Journal - February 16, 2005
Christopher Windham at christopher.windham@wsj.com

The announcement last week of a rare and potentially virulent strain of HIV showed that the virus that causes AIDS remains an elusive and dangerous enemy. With that in mind, Viacom is weighing changes to a public-awareness campaign aimed at encouraging HIV testing and reducing the stigma of the disease.

The campaign, called KNOW HIV/AIDS (the logo uses colors to also read as NO HIV/AIDS), uses airtime on Viacom networks such as MTV, Nickelodeon and Black Entertainment Television to target those at particularly high risk for contracting the disease: young people and minorities. By year end, Viacom says, it will have donated $600 million of television and radio airtime and outdoor-ad space to the campaign, which it launched in 2003.

New York health officials said Friday that a man in his mid-40s, who often used crystal methamphetamine, has a form of HIV that doesn't respond to three classes of antiretroviral medicines. (Researcher David Ho yesterday defended his warnings about the virus variant against critics who charged his report was premature. see article.)

The Kaiser Family Foundation, an adviser to the Viacom campaign, hopes to meet with Viacom to figure out a way to convey the new finding's significance to young people in future messages, says Tina Hoff, vice president and director of entertainment media partnerships at Kaiser. "News like this has the potential to fuel a lot of hysteria and fear," Ms. Hoff says, noting that the campaign has dealt with drug use and risky behavior. "We want to make sure we're providing accurate messages."

Carl Folta, chief spokesman for Viacom and head of the campaign, says the New York media company is eager to work with its partners to reflect the new information. "All of the recent revelations point to the fact that you have to continue to educate audiences about this disease," he says. "We're going to sit down and gather our creative forces to help in the education."

Under the campaign, about 100 public-service announcements have been produced for TV, radio and billboards. The ads, many of which were crafted by Miami advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky, run in slots that Viacom reserves for public service announcements, or PSAs. In addition, about 40 broadcast shows and cable programs have incorporated HIV/AIDS themes into episodes. This year, Viacom says CBS's crime drama "CSI:NY" and Showtime's gay-themed "Queer As Folk" will use HIV/AIDS storylines in coming episodes.

Public-health officials and AIDS activists say efforts like Viacom's are an effective approach to educating minorities and the young, who can be resistant to traditional government-run awareness campaigns. "They don't necessarily believe it if it comes from the government, but they'll believe it if it comes from MTV," says James Curran, dean of the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta and a former director of the division of HIV/AIDS prevention at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Viacom says its efforts are starting to bear fruit with African-Americans, who accounted for about half of new AIDS cases in the U.S. in 2003 despite being only about 13% of the total population, according to CDC estimates. In a national survey of 800 African-Americans that Viacom conducted last year with Kaiser, 82% reported seeing some of the HIV/AIDS-themed ads or television shows. Among respondents aged 18 to 24 who had seen the programming, 77% said the programming made them more likely to use condoms. Of the same group, 52% reported they talked to a partner about safer sex, and 28% reported they were tested after seeing the HIV campaign.

Marteniz Brown is one participant in the Viacom effort who feels like he has made a difference. The 25-year-old Mr. Brown, who contracted HIV at age 17, promoted HIV testing on a BET special last year. He says he has been stopped in public by people who got tested for HIV after seeing the program.

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