Relatability....

 

Since the beginning of promoting HIV meds there's been the problem of relatability.  I remember an ad for Combivir & it showed handsome man of color climbing a mountain.  I remember he was very bright, smiling & looked like he'd never been tired, let alone sick, a day in his life.  I was on the med at the time & I didn't even feel like going outside, let alone something as strenuous as rock climbing.  It was so bad, the concept of accurate advertising of HIV meds made it into a Queer As Folk episode.

For years, TV & net ads have followed a similar path of being unrelatable.  While White Gay men still get the blame for most of HIV & Gay issues.   They're also the group that got this ball rolling in regards to health, awareness & treatment.   But now, they're fairly underrepresented in ads.  Teens are a pressing group, but nothing there either.  It's not uncommon to see an HIV med ad without any woman who weren't trans.

What do they use?  They use very niche, upbeat POC's mostly.  Nothing wrong with that if others are included.   Few, if any of these, are presented as the proverbial, straight person.  A lot of awareness is focusing on glitzy, ethnic musicians & drag queens.  Sure that'll normalize the way people see HIV & those living with it.  

The worst part of it is still, these people look upbeat, happy, energetic & super healthy.  Maybe some people do feel like that on these meds.  I haven't really felt any of that since I've been diagnosed & the meds didn't fix that.  Not only are these ads not relatable to a lot of people, they're very unrealistic.  You won't be Maria singing your lungs about as you hikes up a mountain.  You might very well be struggling just to get through your day.

I know their picture is prettier, but it's a lie.   When that doesn't happen for a newly diagnosed person, it'll just make their life that much harder.  When it comes to health matters, ugly truths are kinder than pretty lies.

Take care.

Cya...