UNICEF in stigmatizing and discriminatory Media Campaign

[Guest guest]

UNICEF India launched a media campaign on HIV & AIDS in the `proxy'

leadership of UPSACS (Uttar Pradesh State AIDS Control Society) by

putting up over 200 hoardings across five urban cities of Uttar

Pradesh namely, Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Kanpur and Allahabad. These

hoardings carried messages on AIDS prevention using the commonly

used slang and punch-lines – Hero Ya Zero; Khiladi Ya Anadi; Kal Ho

Na Ho and Dil Chahta Hai.

The hoardings are discriminating the positive community who is

feeling further stigmatised after seeing the messages. The efforts

made by various organisations to bring them out of stigma have gone

waste.

The messages especially the hoardings - " Khiladi ya Anadi " and " Hero

ya Zero " are somehow conveying the message that HIV positive people

are " Anadi and Zero " of the society and people who are aware and

using prevention mechanisms are Hero and Khiladi.

The gender sensitivity part was also discussed mentioning that the

messages are promoting the aware male gender as Khiladi and Hero.

The messages also do not provide any information about the

prevention mechanisms from HIV.

Instead of AIDS, the hoarding should talk of HIV as there is a long

time gap between HIV and AIDS status.

The messages talk of spread of AIDS only through sexual routes,

which adds to the existing stigma in our society about the issue.

The advertising agency involved in the work has used slang like-

" Kal Ho Na Ho " , which spreads further fear about the issue. Already

there is a lot of terror about words like HIV and AIDS. These

messages using fear psychosis pitch would further scare them and de-

motivate them for voluntary testing which is already a big challenge

in our society.

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