In November 2016 French NGO Aides launched a print ad campaign to promote the good news that HIV-positive people who are on effective treatment no longer transmits the virus. Today anti-retroviral drugs are so effective, they can make the virus undetectable in the blood and sexual fluids of affected people, and undetectable in this case means uninfectious.
Aides Revelation by TBWAParis shows naked couples making love while doing a sport or form of art. With this campaign Aides wants to spread the word and change our perception of HIV positive people – they are more than their HIV status.
“It is our responsibility to reveal this information to the most people possible. Because what weighs most on the quality of life of HIV-positive people today is not the virus. It’s the daily discriminations they have to suffer. Indeed, there is still an enormous hap between the therapeutic progresses and the social perception of HIV. In France, 86% of HIV-positive people who have been tested and are now being treated have an undetectable viral change. They are therefore in good health and don’t pass on the virus. And yet, rejections in the sentimental and sexual spheres remain extremely important. According to our latest inquiry HIV, hepatitis and you carried out in March 2016, 49.1% of declared discriminations happen in a sexual context. These discriminations of the most intimate nature are extremely violently perceived by HIV-positive people: By fear of rejection, many people refrain from having sentimental or sexual relations, no longer dare to talk about their pathology, avoid taking their medication in public. All these situations lock them up in a form of auto-exclusion, which is truly detrimental to their quality of life and capacity to take care of their health.” Aurélien Beaucamp, president of AIDES
