Creative Brief for Stigma Campaign
Background/ Context:
Stigma and discrimination have been recognized as one of the most serious impediments in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Underlying AIDS related stigma are ignorance and fear about the modes of transmission. HIV/AIDS related stigma moves hand in hand with fear. Whether it is fear of contracting HIV or fear of dealing with someone who is HIV positive, those infected and affected by HIV find themselves ostracized and on the fringes of the communities they are a part of.
Stigma and discrimination are serious obstacles to effective HIV-prevention in Zimbabwe. Because of stigma:
§ individuals do not want to know their HIV status and may delay seeking or forego voluntary HIV counseling and testing (VCT) services;
§ individuals may be reluctant to adopt safer sexual practices e.g. use condoms and/or seek treatment for sexually-transmitted infections;
§ people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWAs) may be aware of their status and choose not to tell their partners and family members, increasing the likelihood of further transmission and preventing them from seeking essential care and support;
§ workplaces, schools, churches and hospitals may reject individuals whose HIV-positive status is known, causing further isolation and preventing essential care and support;
§ PLWAs may experience additional psychological stress and potential abandonment by partners, family and friends; and
§ PLWAs may choose to isolate themselves as a coping strategy, often contributing to deterioration of their health and well-being.
Stigma is recognized as the third stage in the progression of the HIV epidemic. First is the epidemic of HIV; second is the epidemic of AIDS; and finally is the epidemic of stigma. Stigma today is an epidemic in itself that needs to be combated.
Addressing stigma requires the following:
Increasing the opportunities for exposure to and contact with people living with HIV/AIDS. Anecdotal evidence suggests that uninfected individuals benefit from interaction with people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWAs) as they overcome their biases and concerns. PLWAs need a forum to tell stories of how they got infected and how they are coping with the illness.
Providing information to dispel the myths and misconceptions surrounding HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS is not a moral issue and people need to stop associating negative perceptions towards those infected by the virus.
Providing counseling to those seeking information about HIV and those seeking testing to know their status.
Promoting HIV/AIDS-related care and support services to provide alternatives to people infected by HIV/AIDS.
Communication Objectives:
PSI/Zimbabwe proposes a campaign that address stigma at the individual level.
The objectives of this communication campaign are to:
§ Reduce stigma against HIV positive people and
§ Promote voluntary counseling and testing to encourage everyone to know their HIV status.
The campaign will seek to involve participation from PLWAs (people living with HIV/AIDS) to develop real-life testimonials. These will aim to educate people on the different situations that result in someone getting infected how they are coping with their status now. This is meant to educate people on the different modes of transmission of HIV and also show them that it can affect anybody (primarily do away with the myth that HIV happens only to promiscuous people or people with so called loose morals).
The objective is to increase personal risk perception among the viewers; to evoke empathy towards HIV positive people and also to motivate them to get tested and know their HIV status. The viewers should perceive the HIV positive characters in the campaign as no different from themselves or their family or friends.
The secondary objective of the campaign is to show the different coping strategies adopted by people living with HIV/AIDS and their need for care and support from the community. It is important to communicate to the viewers that people infected with HIV/AIDS can live longer with support from family, friends and the community. If people are made aware of this there are more likely to change their attitude towards the infected.
The execution of the campaign needs to strike a balance between the fact that HIV/AIDS can happen to anybody/everybody and that one can still live a positive and hopeful life after infection. The balance is between factual information (“HIV can happen to anybody”) and assurance (“I can still protect myself from infection; people with HIV/AIDS are just like me and can live longer with support from me, family, friends and the community”). We want people to know their HIV status and learn ways of protecting themselves by seeking voluntary counseling and testing. But we also want to promote among HIV positive people the notion of sameness- that they are not any different/ lesser/worse than HIV negative individuals and that they deserve equal treatment. Different executions will be developed to tell stories of HIV positive people and give a face to the epidemic. The call to action at the end of the campaign will encourage individuals to seek voluntary counseling and testing.
The following points need to be covered by this campaign:
§ Knowing your status helps you protect yourself and those you love.
§ HIV is not spread casually or through so called immoral behavior; there is no need to shun anyone who is HIV positive for fear of infection.
§ It is possible to live a healthy life like everyone else even if you are HIV positive.
§ People with HIV/AIDS need support and care. It is up to us to give support as and when it is needed.
The campaign will also provide basic information to HIV infected people on different support services available to them in Zimbabwe.
Marketing Objectives
1. Increase client-flow for New Start centres by normalizing the concept of testing and knowing one’s status. This can be done addressing some of the following barriers to using VCT services: -
§ Fear of HIV positive status: People feel they are likely to be HIV positive because of their high risk behaviour and do not know if they found out they were HIV positive
§ Low risk perception: People feel they may not be at any danger of HIV/ AIDS and hence do not need VCT services.
Target Audience:
The campaign will target individuals, family and community members to encourage acceptance of people living with HIV/AIDS and promote their need for care and support.
The campaign will also target individuals who do not know their HIV status, encouraging them to seek voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) services.
Communication Tasks
The campaign will use mass media to help dispel fear of and discrimination towards HIV-positive individuals, while providing correct information about the risks of HIV infection. The campaign will promote positive health-seeking behaviors, including the use of voluntary HIV counseling and testing (VCT) and care and support services.
The campaign will feature a compelling call to action that will encourage individuals to seek VCT services and acceptance of individuals living with HIV.
Desired Response
People living with HIV/AIDS are no different from me, my family and my friends. I need to accept them and their status and provide the care and support they need.
This could happen to me and I also need to know my status and learn ways of protecting myself.
Creative Considerations
1. Tone of the communication – It is important to be sensitive to HIV positive and negative people and the campaign messages should be balanced to have an equal appeal to both groups. The objective of this campaign is to normalize knowing one’s status and reducing stigma associated with HIV positive people.
2. Language used in communication should be easily translated into vernacular languages in Zimbabwe.
3. The campaign should have appeal across rural and urban areas, especially different language groups.
Time Schedule
Briefing and discussions ….. By November 15, 2004
Agency presentation ….. By November 25, 2004
Agency selection ….. By December 2, 2004
Creative finalisation incl. pre tests ….. By December 20, 2004
Production incl. pre and post ….. By January 25, 2005
Launch ….. February 1, 2005
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