In a new campaign from Saatchi &
Saatchi Switzerland for Vangardist, a leading German men’s monthly, the
magazine invites its readers to take a hands-on approach to end the social
stigma surrounding HIV.
To coincide with one of the biggest HIV
events in the world - Life Ball - which takes place every year in Vangardist’s
home town of Vienna, all 3,000 copies of its Spring issue are
printed with ink infused with HIV+ blood donated by three individuals living
with the HIV virus.
Whilst the magazine has been produced
according to the most stringent controls and using processes developed
according to guidelines established by Harvard and Innsbruck University,
ensuring that the handling of a physical copy of the magazines carries no risk
of infection, and is 100% safe; the debate and discussion around the magazine
and the issue it highlights has already been significant.
Despite 30 years of campaigning,
activism and research, HIV remains the 6th biggest cause of death in
the world. Yet for many people the virus
is seen as ‘old news’, with discussion and debate relegated to just one or two
days a year when key communities and organisations around the world force the
issue back onto the news agenda.
With NGO’s and Governments alike all
acknowledging that the social stigma surrounding the disease remains one of the
key factors preventing effective management, and ultimately the eradication of
the virus, Vangardist believes it is essential that conversations around this
topic are reignited.
Commenting on the attention being
generated around the magazine, and the rationale behind the campaign, Julian
Wiehl, Publisher and CEO of Vangardist said:
“The editorial team at Vangardist is committed to dealing with a wide
variety of topics affecting our readers. We believe that as a lifestyle
magazine it is our responsibility to address the issues shaping society today. With 80% more confirmed cases of HIV being
recorded in 2013 than 10 years previously, and an estimated 50% of HIV cases
being detected late due to lack of testing caused by social stigma associated
with the virus. This felt like a very
relevant issue for us to focus on not just editorially but also from a broader
communications stand point.”
Jason Romeyko, Executive Creative
Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Switzerland explained: “This is truly a ‘Nothing Is Impossible’ story - one
we have been passionate about for a long time. When Vangardist approached us to
help them raise awareness of this important cause around Life Ball in Vienna,
we knew we had met a brave client. With this unique project, we want to create
a response in a heartbeat by transforming the media into the very root of the
stigma itself - by printing every word, line, picture and page of the magazine
with blood from HIV+ people. By holding the issue, readers are immediately
breaking the taboo.“
The magazine is available to subscribers
from today, 28th April, and will be on newsstands and online from
next week. The Facebook page also
launches today: www.facebook.com/hivheroes
; and aims to be one of the most widely
visited and ‘liked’ HIV related pages on Facebook, demonstrating to the world a
community of people for whom the HIV virus carries no social stigma exists.
This campaign aims to show that a
community of people around the world willing to publicly show their support and
become #HIVHEROES online, even just by talking about HIV, people can become HIV
Heroes.
In addition to lending their support
socially to the campaign, individuals interested in getting even more involved,
will be able to participate in an online auction later in the campaign when
further copies of the magazine will be sold in an effort to raise additional
monies for HIV related causes / organisations.