dans le cadre de notre campagne "Paroles de séropositif(ve)s", une fresque a été réalisée à l'occasion de la Journée mondiale de lutte contre le sida sur le parvis de l'Hôtel de Ville de Paris. Elle sera exposée jusqu'au 27 février 2007.
Daniel Hérard / © Daniel Hérard
"Paroles de séropositif(ve)s", Marseille © AIDES
C'est le sida qu'il faut exclure, pas les séropositifs ! Speakability
In choosing the complex word “speakability” to describe one of its strategies for 2005 - 2007, the association is putting forward a proposal for an in-depth discussion about the difficulty people have in stating or mentioning the fact that they are HIV-positive.
As AIDS is sexually transmissible, it concerns people’s intimate lives, their relationship with sexuality and with each other as a couple. It also comes up against society’s oldest taboos. In addition, having appeared in the homosexual community in the 80’s, it was soon propagated amongst drug users and people providing sexual services. For some communities in France, it became a symbol of decadence, a loss of values and a punishment.
Unfortunately, these erroneous ideas are still in too many people’s minds, and this often prevents infected people from talking about their disease. And yet, by not talking about it, and even not wanting to know for fear of others, they are allowing the virus to gain ground without a fight. The individual is in danger, and so is/are the partner(s).
AIDES is in daily contact with the people concerned and is well aware of the unbearable pressure that they have to live with in their relationship, in the family, at work and amongst friends.
To support them, the association creates spaces in which they can speak – discussion groups, individual support – and this helps them to build up their own strategies for talking to family and friends and overcome their fear of the possible consequences.
But this is not enough in itself, as the responsibility should not fall on people living with HIV ; society as a whole needs to learn to make it possible to “speak out”.
Since 2005 the association has therefore been involved in a policy of communicating with the general public. These information and awareness campaigns took on an even greater dimension in 2006 and will continue into 2007.
An initial campaign, "Paroles de séropositif(ve)s" [“Affected people speak out”], was launched in 2005. Three visuals linked to texts describing the difficulty of living with HIV/AIDS today were produced by our agency TBWA/Paris. These were circulated in the press and won the “Lion de Bronze” at the International Advertising Festival in Cannes in June. The campaign also includes a series of large wall paintings painted by leading urban graphic artists in the centre of France’s biggest cities to attract the attention of a broad public. Two paintings have already been completed in Paris and Marseille. Others will be inaugurated on 1st December 2006 in Angers, Angoulême, Bordeaux, Marseille, Nantes, Paris, Poitiers and Saint Nazaire.
On 24 October, as a result of the TBWA\Paris agency’s work and the commitment of Johnny Hallyday, Didier Drogba, Jean-Pierre Foucault, Claire Chazal, Muriel Robin, Laurent Ruquier and Sébastien Cauet, AIDES launched the campaign “C’est le sida qu’il faut exclure, pas les séropositifs” [We should be trying to exclude AIDS, not HIV affected]. This campaign is displayed on posters in the larger cities in France and in the Decaux network, as well as in the press and on postcards and mini-posters distributed through our network. It bears a message of solidarity with people living with AIDS and questions us all on the extent to which we show our respect for others.
As AIDS is sexually transmissible, it concerns people’s intimate lives, their relationship with sexuality and with each other as a couple. It also comes up against society’s oldest taboos. In addition, having appeared in the homosexual community in the 80’s, it was soon propagated amongst drug users and people providing sexual services. For some communities in France, it became a symbol of decadence, a loss of values and a punishment.
Unfortunately, these erroneous ideas are still in too many people’s minds, and this often prevents infected people from talking about their disease. And yet, by not talking about it, and even not wanting to know for fear of others, they are allowing the virus to gain ground without a fight. The individual is in danger, and so is/are the partner(s).
AIDES is in daily contact with the people concerned and is well aware of the unbearable pressure that they have to live with in their relationship, in the family, at work and amongst friends.
To support them, the association creates spaces in which they can speak – discussion groups, individual support – and this helps them to build up their own strategies for talking to family and friends and overcome their fear of the possible consequences.
But this is not enough in itself, as the responsibility should not fall on people living with HIV ; society as a whole needs to learn to make it possible to “speak out”.
Since 2005 the association has therefore been involved in a policy of communicating with the general public. These information and awareness campaigns took on an even greater dimension in 2006 and will continue into 2007.
An initial campaign, "Paroles de séropositif(ve)s" [“Affected people speak out”], was launched in 2005. Three visuals linked to texts describing the difficulty of living with HIV/AIDS today were produced by our agency TBWA/Paris. These were circulated in the press and won the “Lion de Bronze” at the International Advertising Festival in Cannes in June. The campaign also includes a series of large wall paintings painted by leading urban graphic artists in the centre of France’s biggest cities to attract the attention of a broad public. Two paintings have already been completed in Paris and Marseille. Others will be inaugurated on 1st December 2006 in Angers, Angoulême, Bordeaux, Marseille, Nantes, Paris, Poitiers and Saint Nazaire.
On 24 October, as a result of the TBWA\Paris agency’s work and the commitment of Johnny Hallyday, Didier Drogba, Jean-Pierre Foucault, Claire Chazal, Muriel Robin, Laurent Ruquier and Sébastien Cauet, AIDES launched the campaign “C’est le sida qu’il faut exclure, pas les séropositifs” [We should be trying to exclude AIDS, not HIV affected]. This campaign is displayed on posters in the larger cities in France and in the Decaux network, as well as in the press and on postcards and mini-posters distributed through our network. It bears a message of solidarity with people living with AIDS and questions us all on the extent to which we show our respect for others.
