The Hindu Business Line : AIDS and social marketing

THE question has the assembled journalists squirming. "How many of you have touched a condom this week? Those who have, raise your hands," urges the speaker. Amidst silence, some shifting and some embarrassed laughter, Sanjay R. Chaganti, Programme Director (HIV/AIDS Prevention), Population Services International (PSI), tries to make the point that the stigma attached to discussing sexual health issues is more dangerous than the virus that causes AIDS.

PSI, which has just launched a campaign in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, among the States with the highest incidence of HIV, is involved in social marketing and communications for health. Aimed at increasing awareness of the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS through unprotected sex with non-regular partners and at busting certain misconceptions associated with it, the campaign has two parts to it. The campaign is part of Operation Lighthouse, PSI's larger integrated HIV/AIDS prevention programme which covers various port towns in the country.

"Puli Rajavukku AIDS varumaa?" is the horrified question that rings through the teaser ad. This goes on to three more spots which advise the target `consumer' to practise safe sex with non-regular partners. The other part urges the target group to `be faithful'. The exercise is based on the Balbir Pasha campaign that PSI ran in Mumbai, one that generated much controversy and flak for the organisation, but Chaganti says they have to be bold and frank despite the criticism. The Balbir Pasha campaign (developed by Lowe) was slammed for being "anti-women", perceived as implying that women spread HIV/AIDS and charged with stigmatising sex workers but was "remarkably successful" in that post campaign, PSI's helpline received 250 per cent more calls; its Saadhan clinics, voluntary counselling and testing centres, had 150 per cent more visitors and there was a 300 per cent rise in all brands of condoms sold in the red light district of Mumbai, says Chaganti.

The Puli Raja campaign uses TV, radio, print and outdoors. It uses locations frequented by the target group. "In Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi, there are clearly defined red light areas, but not so in TN and AP," says Chaganti, on the challenges of this endeavour. The points that it seeks to address: that a healthy-looking person or known partner need not necessarily be HIV/AIDS-free, and that alcohol-induced forgetfulness leads to the failure of using a condom. Chaganti says that the campaign cannot be construed as anti-women because it's aimed at protecting the woman, preventing the virus from entering homes and affecting wives and unborn children. In fact, this is the ideal on which the second sub-campaign, Be Faithful, is based. It shows how, by having extra-marital affairs, men can give HIV to their wives and thus to unborn children, putting their lives at risk. Puli Raja, who was visualised as a tall, hefty, invincible, fun-loving hero in pre-campaign testing, actually remains faceless throughout the campaign. "He is every man, his conscience. He's an idea. By keeping him abstract, it's easier for those in the target group to identify with him. Giving him a face will lead people to develop associations and reject similarities with him," says Chaganti.

The organisation is looking at developing a campaign with a local celebrity who urges the target group to overcome their reserve in talking about AIDS. In Mumbai, the Balbir Pasha campaign was followed by a primarily print one which created awareness of the Saadhan clinics, and this is what is planned for TN and AP too.

The campaign tries to break away from the established pattern of social cause advertising, which is "not engaging" though informative. People don't want to be preached to, they want to be treated like adults, he says. Mass media can be effective in such contexts if they are used strategically, he says, adding that PSI's tack is to focus on the consumer, get him involved in on-ground activity (interpersonal communication) and then go on to making him aware of the products and the services available.

PSI, which was set up in India in 1988, uses social marketing to deliver health products and services to lower-income groups in developing countries, to motivate their use and promote healthy behaviour. A Washington, DC-based non-profit organisation working in over 50 countries, its forte is AIDS prevention, family planning, maternal and child health. In India, PSI markets its own brand of Masti condoms, and helps market the Kama Sutra and Nirodh Dlx brands in smaller towns and remote areas. Among other health products it markets are the Pearl brand of contraceptive pills, the Union Government's Mala D, oral rehydration solution and a clean delivery kit. Many products are donated to PSI by foundations, multilateral international organisations or donor governments. Often, the prices these products are sold at are even lower than the manufacturing cost, something that is achieved through donor contributions.

PSI employs various techniques to get its message across to its target groups - mobile video units, soap operas on TV, POS advertising, itinerant poets, dramas, hoardings and movie spots. It also hopes to partner with an FM channel in Chennai for a radio talk show.

"There's just a four-year window of opportunity and we have to work very, very hard to contain this scourge," says Chaganti, referring to the threat of AIDS becoming an epidemic in India. India has four million HIV-infected people in the world, second to South Africa. The figure is projected to be 35 million in the next 5-7 years. PSI credits itself with having prevented more than half-a-million cases of HIV globally. Hopefully, Puli Raja will use his might to do that here as well.

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