Capacity building and developing communication materials: one poster's story
Wienrawee, P.
Aidscaptions 2(2): 22-23
1995
PMID: 12291824 Document Number: 302153
According to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) AIDS Division, 22% of brothel-based and street prostitutes and 6% of indirect prostitutes were infected with HIV as of June 1994. Thailand's Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), the BMA, and the AIDS Control and Prevention (AIDSCAP) Project collaborated to develop and launch a poster designed to encourage condom use by the clients of commercial sex workers in Bangkok. The poster shows a woman of Asian descent draped in a sheet embracing a bare-chested man whose pants are unzipped. The man holds a condom. The text reads as follows: "If you know how to please me, I am sure to please you any way you want." This poster drew criticism from two newspaper columnists and some readers for being too explicit and promotive of sex. However, MOPH, BMA, and AIDSCAP officials stood behind their poster as necessary to communicate a strong, honest message to target audiences. The poster remained up in strategic areas throughout Bangkok.