When we clicked play, we weren’t sure where this breast-heavy super-NSFW sex scene was headed, but once we noticed a roll of fat on the beau’s back (the lady, by comparison, is fit-as-all-get-out) our intuition kicked in. “Fat is evil, this thing is about to take a turn,” said our brain. Then BAM! Hitler. Where do these looka-a-likes come from? World AIDS Day people, learn about it. Raise your hand if you’re bored with dictatory ads.
UPDATE: We reached out to the World AIDS Day people in the UK — the ads aren’t theirs: “This advert has absolutely nothing to do with us or World AIDS Day campaigns in the UK (which we coordinate). Nor does it have anything to do with World AIDS Campaign who coordinate intertional campaigns and this year are focusing on human rights of people living with HIV.
“Of course there are many HIV organisations that run there own campaigns, but I would be deeply shocked if it was planned by an official HIV organisation. I think the advert is incredibly stigmatising to people living with HIV who already face incredible amounts of stigma and discrimination throughout the world. On top of this it fails to provide any kind of actual prevention message (e.g. use a condom).”
UPDATE 2: stopaids.de is the homepage of all this, and the campaign appears to be the work of an unaffiliated group hoping to lend its voice to the cause. It seems to be on the up-and-up, and even includes a store! From the site: “The ‘AIDS is a mass murderer’ awareness campaign was designed by Regenbogen e.V. in conjunction with the advertising agency, ‘das comitee’. Our campaign to mark World AIDS Day 2009 speaks in clear terms: the new slogan is ‘AIDS is a mass murderer’. The few mass murderers who have claimed a similar number of human lives are shown: Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Robert Mugabe. The campaign is designed to shake people up, to bring the topic of AIDS back to centre stage, and to reverse the trend of unprotected sexual intercourse. Because anyone can become infected.” Hmm. Mugabe is still alive!
Poster Credits
Advertising Agency: das comitee, Hamburg, Germany (according to AdsOfTheWorld) Regenbogen e.v. (according to Advertolog)
Creative Director: Hans Weishaupl, Dirk Silz
Photographer: Uwe Duttmann
Published: September 2009
Via AdsOfTheWorld
More: “Fake Ad, The Video”