Germany's New AIDS-Awareness Ad Stars Hitler

Time:

Germany's latest AIDS-awareness commercial evokes some strong emotions: shock, disgust, nausea. And that's exactly the point. The controversial ad, which was released online on Sept. 3 and starts running on German TV on Wednesday, shows a couple having steamy sex in a dimly lit room with menacing music playing in the background. The viewer only sees the back of the man's head until the very end, when the camera pans to his face - to reveal that he's Adolf Hitler. Then the slogan flashes across the screen: "AIDS is a mass murderer."

Read the whole story: Time

Comments

[Balzac]

Whoever made these ads should lose their job. I'm extremely offended. I would make a point of painting them over as an act of civil disobedience. It's outrageously offensive and appears to be calculated disrespect for holocaust victims.

[outnow]

Paired associate learning is what this ad exemplifies. You take a negative and pair it with something pleasurable, and, Bingo! You now avoid the pleasurable. Good negative conditioning. Now on the McDonald's food and cigarettes. Hitler's image could be paired with more things that are bad for you.

[RightWingMarine]

Since AIDS is by far a greater risk in the gay community wouldn't this ad be more effective if it targeted gay people? We could use ad money to warn men of the dangers of breast cancer but those dollars are better spent warning women.

[Takae]

"In the early days of the epidemic, men vastly outnumbered women among people infected with HIV. In 1997, women made up 41% of all people living with HIV. Today, nearly 50 percent of the global population of HIV infected persons are women.
AIDS is now a leading cause of death among women aged 20-40 in Europe and North America. Worldwide, half of all new HIV infections are in young people aged 10 to 25, with teenager girls in some places as much as five times more at risk than teenager boys.
The epidemic’s ‘feminization’ is most apparent in sub-Saharan Africa, where close to 60% of those infected are women, and 75% of young people infected are girls aged 15-24."

Source: Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation, UNAIDS, CARE, UNICEF

[RightWingMarine]

the article you cite neglects to mention that rape is a major contributing factor to the high number of HIV/AIDS cases. I don't believe that encouraging rapists to practice safe raping techniques is going to be effective nor do I believe these women should be blamed for becoming infected. I believe that of those that practice consensual sex where AIDS is transmitted either because the partners did not know or did not care the greatest risk is in homosexual sex.

[Paulo1]

There are several inappropriate but well intentioned ways to use the image of Hitler. This is one of them.

[aWatchmanOnTheWalls]

Woooo...!!­! Never knew A.Hitler had a di*ck! This is weird!

[DeepsyRascal]

He only had one ball, the other is in the Albert Hall.

[StephenBarry]

Eva is going to be pissed off.

[theghostsong]

Oh no, Germany has just guaranteed its HIV rates will skyrocket. They just Godwin'd their own national debate.

[Balzac]

Yeah. This was extremely offensive and irresponsible. Some should be fired. I wouldn't donate a dime to that organization.

It disrespects two very important issues. Horrible.

[respected]

That is quite a suggestive picture.

[MARNIE2]

lmao......­....always keep the lights on !!!!!! lol !

[arvay]

And this is important because?

Time long passed for every item containing the words "Adolph Hitler" to be pushed automatically into the headlines.

[EmmaJ76]

Hum, as much as I understand the message, I think using Hitler is the wrong way to go. Too many raw nerves and surely there has to be a better way to educate people on this subject.

[rf dude]

Du, OH du...
--

[Lego87]

Wow I can't believe thats running in Germany, they are very strict on anything with Hitler or Nazi in it. And this is pretty out there.

[malodorousgit]

I think they'll have to pull the ad. Germans won't put up with that, it's too hysterical.

[CaliRN]

Very shocking. I was offended at first but after coming back to the article and thinking about it some more, I find this to be very effective in conveying the absolute horror of AIDS. With the antiretroviral drugs on the market the quality and length of life is improved but AIDS is still 100% fatal.

I see the male in the photo representing someone with HIV infecting another person ... thereby causing death for that person in the future. It is estimated that over 65 million people worldwide have died of AIDS. What is the estimate for deaths in Europe during WWII? ... 8 to 10 million?

If you think the ad is ugly, you should see suffering in the advanced stages of AIDS. I work in a hospital that has a HIV/AIDS clinic associated with the hospital. We see many HIV patients with mild to severe opportunistic infections, advanced AIDS cases with severe infections and terminal AIDS patients; medical issues/infections they endure are horrible. We pump IV antibiotics and antifungals into some patients as they suffer from intractable diarrhea, bleeding, continuous nausea, no appetite, respiratory issues, meningitis, confusion, weakness so severe they cannot lift their head off of their pillow. etc. Some patients are so cachectic they look like concentration camp survivors; resembling walking skeletons when we get them up out of bed.

Yes, the ad is very shocking and offensive but if it prevents someone from being infected with HIV I think it is worth it.

[CaliRN]

The BIG message is to wear protection. Someone can be HIV positive and not know it for months before they test positive for HIV. Not all instances of infecting someone with HIV is malicious - in fact it is very rare for someone to try to infect other people. All previous ad compaigns for preventing HIV has been to use protection (condoms, dental dams, etc.) and be responsible - there just hasn't been an advertising campaign this shocking before.

[DallasDon]

Thank you for your post CaliRN.

You've brought some much need thoughtful, insightful comments to this thread. Perhaps those with opposing viewpoints have never known anyone with full-blown AIDS.

Thank you also for the compassionate care you provide to your patients.

My mother was an angel in white, back when nurses wore white. Nursing took a terrible toll on her. In the early years, when one of her patients expired she would dutifully attend the funeral.

[CaliRN]

I do want to correct one thing in my original statement that I feel I did not convey correctly. By saying in the second paragraph that I saw the "Hitler" in the ad representing someone with HIV I phrased that wrong and mean no offense to anyone with HIV ... not at all.

I see the Hitler image as representing the HIV infection or being the face of HIV infection - the disease and the implications of the disease.

[temenos]

Agree.

[TorpedoTommy]

'What is the estimate for deaths in Europe during WWII? ... 8 to 10 million?'

Could you please read a historybook?
It was 20 to 25 million people of the USSR alone who were killed.

[CaliRN]

To clarify: I was referring to the number of deaths caused by Hitler; not the total during the war.

[Wisdo]

Why is it the dude giving it to the women?

It says women cant pass on aids and that men are the only carriers - so all men are hitler!

Sorry just being as hysterical as the ad.

[WilliamL]

It is true.

Why did they not put a Hitler head on the female.

I have known one or two Hitler women in my life who failed to disclose things they sd. have prior.

If they are going to run this, they need to stick that Hitler face on a female body,

as far as making things fair and square.