Country watch: Brazil

AIDS STD Health Promot Exch. 1996:(4):5-6.

Abstract

PIP: Prior to the successful, low-cost, multimedia campaigns of GAPA-Bahia (GAPA-BA), a nongovernmental organization (NGO), campaigns to educate people about HIV, AIDS, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) were produced by the Brazilian National AIDS/STD Program. Their first campaign, in 1990, focused on fear; their second, in 1995, known as the Braulio campaign, targeted poor men with little education via a conversation between a man and his penis "which had its own will power, opinions about condoms, and a compulsion to have sex." Both campaigns failed. GAPA-BA, in 1990, joined the chorus protesting the campaigns; the NGO believed the messages failed because 1) frightening people drives them away from information and 2) frequent association of AIDS with death is depressing and carries a subliminal message of guilt to those infected. GAPA-BA became the first NGO to produce low-cost, multimedia campaigns nationwide. They focused on "the social responsibility of fighting the disease while emphasizing the value of life and individual sexual freedom." The first campaign, in 1993 and in 1994, used charismatic singers to send short messages encouraging individual responsibility in condom use. The second campaign, in 1995, used "elements from the local culture by affirming the Afro-Bahain heritage expressed in popular music and dance." The light-hearted prevention message during Carnival was "Don't hide from pleasure, avoid AIDS" as a condom was inflated. The 1996 campaign ("Don't rely on luck; use a condom") required five newspaper ads, radio spots, TV ads, 25,000 posters, billboards, and ads on public buses. Five HIV-infected or HIV-affected persons spoke about their lives. This was the first time people living with HIV/AIDS took on educational roles and shed their dangerous and frightening stereotypes. The campaigns are sponsored by donors or remain low in cost because community-based organizations have sensitized other social actors who respond through the community to the epidemic. Carnival bands, hospitals, and drug industries are now producing campaigns.

MeSH terms

  • Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome*
  • Advertising*
  • Americas
  • Brazil
  • Communication
  • Condoms*
  • Contraception
  • Developing Countries
  • Disease
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Family Planning Services
  • HIV Infections*
  • Health Education*
  • Health Planning
  • Infections
  • Information Services*
  • Latin America
  • Marketing of Health Services
  • Mass Media*
  • Organization and Administration
  • Organizations*
  • Sexually Transmitted Diseases*
  • South America
  • Virus Diseases