China launches TV AIDS awareness campaign to promote safe sex
www.chinaview.cn 2007-12-06 20:07:33
BEIJING, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- China launched a large-scale television public service announcement campaign, produced by Oscar-winners and featuring superstars such as Jackie Chan, on Thursday to promote safe sex and combat HIV/AIDS.
Hundreds of millions of members of the public will see the television campaign on TV at home, on China Central Television, on the Internet, or on big screens at the airport, train stations and on buses, next year, with the help of commercial media outlets and advertisement sector partners.
The public service announcements, called "Life is Too Good", feature Jackie Chan, Chinese renowned actor Pu Cunxin and one of the most famous Chinese sopranos Peng Liyuan.
As an "ambitious AIDS awareness campaign", the TV advertisements were created by Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon (who together won Best Documentary Oscar 2006), with the Ministry of Health (MOH), and distributed by the United Nation's Development Programme (UNDP).
Lennon, the producer of the public service announcement series, told reporters that, "Public discussion of condoms and safer sex is difficult; that's true in China, just as it is in every country in the world."
According to an earlier report on the country's AIDS situation released by the MOH, sex has become the main channel of contracting the HIV virus.
The report said among 50,000 cases of newly contracted HIV/AIDS in the past year, more than half contracted the virus through unsafe sex.
Pu, who has made a great contribution to the public campaign about AIDS control and prevention, said condoms, a long-time taboo topic in China, was actually a "scientific breakthrough" that benefited the health of mankind.
Hundreds of millions of migrant workers have no "normal family life", Pu told reporter. "We should tell the public the significance of condoms," he said.
Pu became a MOH publicity member for HIV/AIDS prevention and control in 2000. Since then he has used his fame and influence to participate in various HIV educational campaigns.
The ads show Pu's lyrical bicycle journey through a modern Chinese city passing several young lovers on the street, and leading folk singer Peng Liyuan congratulates young graduates who celebrate their last day of high school. They remind people, "Condoms reduce risk. Please protect yourself."
The last act show action film master Jackie Chan preparing his cast and crew for a dangerous stunt -- a good movie needs danger, he explains, but in life, "we need to be safe", he told people.
Though the rate of AIDS growth has slowed, the government has admitted the situation "remains grave". Official reports say there are estimated to be as many as 700,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in China, a country with a population of 1.3 billion.
Subinay Nandy, UNDP China Country Director, said the public awareness campaign and multi-sector partnership demonstrates willingness in China to address HIV issues.
Participating media companies in the campaign include Air Media, Beijing City TV Media, EPIN Media Holdings Ltd., Towona Mobile Media, and
www.56.com which is China's largest online video-sharing site.
Over 1.5 million visitors have already viewed the ads on the 56.com website since their debut on Nov. 30, according to the website operator. The website has over 20 million registered users aged between 18 and 30.
By donating air time on their video advertisement platforms worth over 1.5 million. U.S. dollars, hundreds of millions of people are expected to view the ads every month over the next year.
Yang and Lennon won the Oscar for Best Documentary -- Short Subject at the 2006 Academy Awards for their documentary "The Blood of Yingzhou District" about children orphaned by AIDS in a poor village in east China's Anhui Province.
They also produced two AIDS campaigns on Chinese television, featuring Yao Ming and Magic Johnson (2004) and Peng Liyuan (2006).
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