Sat 22 Sep 2012 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Just-released research indicates that the Get It On safe sex brand launched by the NZ AIDS Foundation in 2009 to promote condom use quickly bedded in with 80% of its target group, men who have sex with men, according to researchers. The Get It On brand took over from the NZAF's own name and logo in a radical change of direction ushered in by then-prevention manager Simon Harger-Forde. It appeared, and still does, in all promotional activity the NZAF instigated, including advertising, promotions and social marketing. Responses to the question: The message Get It On is... 80% of gay and bi men responding to a major research project undertaken in February last year "recalled the Get It On campaign slogan and correctly identified that its meaning was to promote condom use," says Otago University HIV epidemiology researcher Peter Saxton. Seven percent of respondents got a slightly innacurate understanding of the brand and only thirteen percent had not seen or heard of it. Correct recall of Get It On was highest amongst men over thirty and amongst those who had personal connections with the gay communities. "Men who reported having had more than twenty sexual partners in the last six months were significantly more likely to recall the campaign message," Saxton says. Those who were aware of the campaign were more likely than others to be aware of the need for condomed safe sex, to have had an HIV test and to have embraced condom use. The information has emerged during on-going analysis of data sourced during the Gay Auckland Periodic Sex Survey (GAPSS) and the Gay Online Sex Surveys (GOSS) which are used to identify trends in sexual behaviour amongst those most likely to be at risk of contracting HIV in New Zealand, overwhelmingly gay and bisexual men. The 2011 surveys generated data from over 3,000 gay and bi men and were conducted by the University of Otago with input from the AIDS Foundation. Men at the 2011 Get It On Big Gay Out, Auckland gay sex on site venues and cruising online took part in the source survey. The University's full report on the Get It On brand to the Ministry of Health can be viewed here. You can discuss this New Zealand gay community news story in the GayNZ.com Forum.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 22nd September 2012 - 9:18pm