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Abstract
This project critically examines the question Are HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns more effective at engaging gay men if they use colloquial language and sexually explicit imagery? by investigating the impact of sexually explicit campaigns on the Sydney gay community.
The project approaches the question in three parts:
1. A review of literature exploring the circumstances in which and for what reasons sexually explicit HIV/AIDS campaigns are produced.
2. An analysis of seven interviews with producers of HIV prevention campaigns exploring how, why, where and for what reasons explicit campaigns are produced.
3. An analysis of eight interviews with homosexually active Sydney men exploring how HIV prevention campaigns are viewed, consumed and understood.
The interviews were in-depth, semi-structured and conducted over one hour per interviewee.
The findings are dominated by two interrelated and at times conflicting themes. First, that there is a strongly held belief by campaign producers that the most effective HIV prevention campaigns targeting gay men are produced by the community and reflect that community and as a result must at times be sexually explicit. Second, that it is no longer sufficient for HIV prevention campaigns to rely on explicit sex to attract attention. In an environment where visual images, and sexually explicit visual images especially, are becoming more accessible, and media and communication is more prevalent and complex, safe sex campaigns are forced to deliver ever more sophisticated and stimulating creative materials in order to maintain the engagement of gay men.
The interviews revealed that both campaign producers and consumers participated in the production of a visual literacy of safe sex campaigns. This literacy was necessary to both effectively produce and comprehend the campaigns. The interviews showed that while HIV prevention campaigns that use sexually explicit language and imagery can be highly effective at engaging gay men, the success of sexually explicit campaigns is contextual that is, dependent on where, to whom and in what circumstances the materials are delivered. The audience’s accumulation of knowledge and cultural experience when viewing the campaigns, in other words their safe sex campaign literacy, significantly influenced their capacity to understand, appreciate and be engaged with sexually explicit HIV prevention campaigns.