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Seductive Ad for AIDS Vaccine
Accused of Sending Bad Message

By CANDICE CHOI
Email: editor@diversityinc.com

www.DiversityInc.com
May 17, 2001   

An advertisement for a new AIDS vaccine trial featuring a man alleged to be a
porn star is infuriating activists in the San Francisco area who say the ad portrays the disease in a seductive light.

The ad, which appears on bus shelters throughout San Francisco, features the
image of a muscular male performer from the Titan Media video-company, which
is widely known in the gay community as a porn distributor. The words, "Some
things are worth taking your shirt off for. Come get a shot in the arm,"
accompany the image, along with a logo for Titan Men.

The advertisement can also be found in the pages of the city’s gay and lesbian publications, according to Michael Petrelis, a gay man living with AIDS in San Francisco who is leading the movement against the ad. The advertisement does not attempt to attract those infected with AIDS, but is looking for healthy men to test a new vaccine.

"We don’t know that the model is a porn star," said James Loyce, director of the Health AIDS programs in the San Francisco Department of Health. "Michael
alleges that it was a porn star, but there’s no pornography in the ad. Michael must have seen him somewhere. I don’t know. I don’t watch porn."

The AIDS vaccine trial ad is funded by the San Francisco Department of Health, which is using $3,000 in federal money that comes from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH has no direct involvement in the development of the ad, according to James Hadley, NIH spokesperson.

The San Francisco Department of Health remains opposed to ads perpetuated by
drug companies portraying AIDS-infected individuals in a healthy light. "What we’re doing isn’t trying to sell AIDS medication. What we’re trying to do is attract healthy men for a vaccine test," Loyce said.


San Francisco has been on the cutting edge for prevention and strategies, Loyce said.

Petrelis has demanded that Infinity Outdoor Advertising, the company commissioned by the San Francisco Health Department to develop the ad, take them down immediately. Infinity declined to comment.

"Their porn logo is represented in the advertisement," said Petrelis, who
also operates a private site, AIDS-Statistics.com, which tracks the latest
AIDS research data from state health departments. "There’s no mistaking that
it’s selling porn."

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