For Immediate Release
Media Contact:
Justin Burke - 213.201.1525
YOUTH GROUP LAUNCHES HIV PREVENTION CAMPAIGN
ON 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF AIDS IN THE UNITED STATES
Los Angeles, Calif., June 7, 2006 – As the nation marks the 25th anniversary of the first report of AIDS in the United States, AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) today announced the launch of “Helping Each Other Prevent HIV,” a social marketing campaign by and for Los Angeles gay and bisexual youth.
The campaign, which features six different designs, appears on 60 bus exteriors and 600 bus shelter interiors on routes across greater Los Angeles during June, the month marked around the nation as Gay & Lesbian Pride Month.
Nearly two dozen young people worked with APLA staff over the course of a year to identify key issues impacting young gay men in Los Angeles County. Group members contributed digital photography, design sensibility and slogans to the campaign, which was also vetted by focus groups of youth. The campaign explores homophobia, family, HIV and identity.
“With half of new HIV infections among people under 25, campaigns like this one are essential,” said Craig E. Thompson, executive director of AIDS Project Los Angeles. “This is a generation that does not know life without AIDS. Rather than send a message from on high to a series of individuals, these young people have framed their fight against HIV in terms of community -- an approach that is radical and a lesson for all of us.”
In one ad, youth encourage each other to “bring all [your] selves,” rather than accept invisibility. In another, a group of interracial youth proclaim in Spanish that they are “family by choice, not by blood,” to emphasize the ways in which gay men build meaningful communities and expand the concept of family.
Creators of the ads are members of the Mpowerment Program, a federally funded HIV prevention program that provides HIV/AIDS information, harm reduction strategies, peer trainings and outreach skills-building for Los Angeles County youth ages 15 – 22. Participants, who meet twice weekly, receive one-on-one counseling, take part in roundtable discussions and community organizing efforts, including peer health education in schools and in local bars and clubs.
An in-kind gift from CBS Outdoor/Viacom tripled the amount of advertising space for the campaign.
AIDS Project Los Angeles, one of the largest non-profit AIDS service organizations in the United States, provides bilingual direct services, prevention education and leadership on HIV/AIDS-related policy and legislation. Founded by four friends in 1982, APLA is a community-based, volunteer-supported organization with local, national and global reach. For more information, visit www.apla.org.###
