A new 'condoms are cool' campaign aimed at teenagers has been launched by Ministry of Health. Part of the campaign involves a television commercial set at a hip-hop party, with a mixture of animation and live action. The slogan? "No Rubba – No Hubba Hubba." "I'm right behind the strong message delivered by this campaign, and make no apologies for it," says the Ministry of Health's Acting Director of Public Health, Dr Doug Lush. New Zealand has high rates chlamydia and gonorrhoea, says Dr Lush, which need to be tackled head on. "I see young people with STIs every day," says Dr Sue Bagshaw, a youth sexual health specialist. "Many of them don't understand just how easy it is to contract, and pass on, an STI. As the campaign points out, if you pass on an STI to one person, they may pass it on to two people and so on. Before long a large number of people are infected." While youth are being targeted for the condom message, however, the AIDS Foundation has been aware in its own campaigns this year that the average age for new HIV infections among men is 39. A campaign specifically targeting older men is being developed for next year. “Recent campaigns such as end the silence have deliberately not used youth images or wording in order to have more appeal to older gay men, especially the heart boxes campaign which has been specifically aimed at men in relationships, who tend to be older,” says the Foundation's communcations co-ordinator Steve Attwood.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 25th November 2004 - 12:00pm