National education campaign with real impact on improving perceptions of HIV-positive people

“HIV is a problem of people like us. Showing a positive image of infected people, evoking sympathy for them, talking about opportunities rather than threats, showing the normality of seropositive people aimed at changing the stereotypical image of people living with HIV” – this is the main idea we communicated as part of an innovative educational campaign aimed at counteracting social discrimination against people living with HIV. We undertook the communication support of this campaign being aware of how important a social problem it touches and how important it is to build acceptance of sick people among Polish society. The initiator and originator of the campaign was the Health Psychology Studio. The Leo Burnet agency was responsible for the concept and creation of the campaign, and Planet Partners was responsible for public relations activities.

AWARD-WINNING

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Client

Health Psychology Studio

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Cooperation

Project

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Market

Poland

Challenge

The biggest problem facing people living with HIV is not the infection itself. The challenge is the alienation and loneliness that infected people experience when they admit they have the disease. The apparent acceptance, the apparent smile, and in reality, the change in behavior. We don’t want to work with seropositive people, use the same cutlery, shake their hand. It is easier to recover from HIV than it is to return to society. The infection can be controlled with medication and function with the disease into old age, but there is no cure for ostracism. “HIV is still associated in Poland with prostitution, homosexuality and drugs. “Normal” people believe that HIV does not affect them and have little knowledge, so it is not uncommon for them to react with fear when they learn of someone’s infection (Stigma Index, 2011).”

showing how ignorance about the ways of infection alienates people with HIV from society

Eliminating prejudice against seropositive people

Increase awareness of safety of contact with infected

Sensitizing journalists to the way the issue is presented and the language used in this context

Solution

The campaign was aimed at healthy adults with active lifestyles, residents of large cities. The face of the campaign, for the first time in Poland, became a seropositive person – KASIA – an actively living young psychologist. We focused our communication activities around the heroine of the campaign, a representative of the group of infected people: a young, educated, active woman, speaking openly about her life, showing its positive aspects. We recommended such communication channels to allow interaction and direct contact with carriers – these were the Internet, social media, urban actions, activities in schools – supported by media activity and educational materials. Enabling sincere conversation with infected people, establishing relationships with them was supposed to change the stereotypical perception of seropositive people and show that it is safe to interact with them.

Campaign website - www.hivokryzja.pl and www.hivocrisy.pl

Facebook - the main channel of communication

3 Advertising spots (including with Rafal Mohr and Vienia)

Urban actions - actions in urban space in Warsaw, Wrocław, Poznań, Ustka

Ambient actions - hang tags in public places with slogans such as: "Sitting next to a person with the virus, you won't get HIV", "Touching the same table, you won't get HIV".

"Test for HIV-positive". - On December 1, on World AIDS Day, guests at a Warsaw restaurant could use a mug used by a seropositive person. The mug with the inscription: "An HIV-positive person drank from this mug" could later be bought on Allegro, the proceeds from the sale were donated to help the sick

A series of educational activities

Support of the campaign by well-known people including Kuba Wojewódzki, Paulina Młynarska, Tomasz Kamel, Agnieszka Holland; Advertising campaign in national media

Results

Planet Partners, together with its client, the Health Psychology Studio, received a GOLD SPINAKER award for the social campaign “HIVocrisy. Let’s cure ourselves” the GOLD SPINACZ award in the “Medicine and Health” category.

Achieved campaign statistics: 45 volunteers, 240 city actions, 450 media publications, 8,000 factual materials, 13,000 references to the slogan HIVocrisy, 15 million recipients of the campaign.

REACH

15m

campaign audiences

MEDIA RELATIONS

450

media publications

AWARENESS

Expand awareness of the routes of infection by reaching out to the general public

AWARENESS

Changing the presentation of the problem in the media, sensitizing journalists to the language of HIV texts.

AWARENESS

The topic of discrimination against seropositive people has appeared in the public debate: in the Parliament, at health conferences. The Sanitary Inspectorate itself has signed up for the campaign.

PHOTO EXHIBIT

The campaign culminated in an exhibition of photos showing infected people who dared to show.

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Narzędzie 1

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