Ads Against AIDS

A fin slides through the water, unseen by two African American men in wetsuits. One is set to dive right into the water, ignoring the protective cage. “Let’s do it without, just this once,” he says.

When his mate protests, the man argues, “How long have we been doing this together? Have we ever been eaten by a shark?” And so they both make the jump.

Then the tag, “Stop making excuses. Always use protection,” and a final, Jaws-style shot of bloody water.

“South Park humor,” as the ad’s creator, Michael Franzini, describes it, meets the AIDS-awareness campaign.

It was 20 years ago last summer that reports of AIDS were first published in the U.S.