Foundation sees link between dull ads and rise in Utah HIV rate
"Whether you're a little teapot or a big one ... protect your spout."
- rejected ad copy
The Utah AIDS Foundation used to pass out beer coasters with pictures of condoms and messages such as "Thank you and come again."
But its latest federally funded HIV-prevention messages have been blander. One ad now in weekly newspapers shows a haggard man in women's clothing smoking a cigarette, with the line "STDS are a total drag," and urges readers to get tested. [Note from LifeLube - a little transphobia in this?]
Meanwhile, Utah's HIV-infection rate has been rising; it's up 32 percent so far this year in Salt Lake County compared with the same time last year.
The nonprofit foundation sees a connection - and it has decided to pay the cost of getting blunter with Utah's gay men, rejecting government funding and its HIV infections are on the rise.
Read the rest in the Salt Lake City Tribune.
* many gracias to our favorite lesbian cougar, G. Simone, for alerting us to this article.
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