The Campus Observer

Distasteful posters turn students off

By Amanda Zhang
27 October 2006

Posters of people engaging in sex are rarely seen in NUS.

However, in the past two weeks, a series of such explicit posters have been plastered all over campus.

There are three different posters in the series. One depicts a man apparently having oral sex with a woman. Another shows a naked man and woman appearing to be having intercourse while the last poster shows four semi-naked males that looked as though they are groping one another.

Each poster has a tagline that reads, “Condom cuts chances. Abstinence adds assurance.” The people depicted in the posters have sores all over the body.

These posters were designed by a team from the NUS Business School, Cre-Aids-ive, as part of an effort to promote AIDS awareness. The team is one of the ten teams in tertiary institutions participating in the STOMPAIDS challenge organized by the Health Promotion Board.

Jeremiah Tay, one of the organizers from the team, said the posters were designed to portray the consequences of casual sex.

“We want people to react when they see the posters. Basically, we want to use controversy to pull the crowds and to instill fear inside their minds. Next time, they will think twice before having casual sex,” said Tay.

Students did react to the posters.

Abishek Radhakrishnan, third-year engineering student, said he was taken aback by the direct and “in-your-face” nature of the posters.

“Usually, advertisements are heavily censored, so I’m really surprised to see these provocative pictures,” said Radhakrishnan.

Benjamin Chin, a second-year medical student, agreed.

“The posters are graphic and explicit. The visual simulation really does affect the viewer,” said Chin.

However, students were unimpressed with the portrayal of AIDS in the posters.

“I’m a medical student. I know that there are many more symptoms than just the one in the posters. Also, the concept broached is rather one-dimensional since it focuses only on sexual transmissions,” said Chin.

Agreeing, Liyana Zailan, a second-year medical student, said, “I’m not sexually active so they do not apply to me directly. I think they could have explored other issues behind AIDS like the other signs and symptoms.”

There are two aids exhibitions being held concurrently on campus as part of the stompAIDS challenge. Team “Adam and Eve” and Team “Cre-Aids-ive” are the two business teams representing NUS.

“Cre-Aids-ive”, held at the science forum encourages people to use condoms or practice abstinence through their posters which encourages safe sex.

“Adam and Eve” held at the central forum, goes by the tagline “Play by the rules” and their concept uses the imagery of a traffic light to illustrate the many choices involved in the dating game.

There are eight other tertiary teams competing in this marketing and advertising challenge. The top team will win $10,000 in cash.

Mike Lim, second-year arts student, said the images did not do justice to AIDS victims.

“The posters exploit stereotypes. Not everyone contracts aids through the scenarios portrayed in the posters,” said Lim.

The interviewed students also found the posters ineffective.

“When I look at them, I think it is an aggressive marketing campaign. It is commercial. However, it does not raise real social awareness about AIDS,” said Radhakrishnan.

Both Lim and Radhakrishnan agreed that it was an insensitive way to approach the topic.

“The posters increase the taboo towards sex rather than decreasing it. The team should have focused more on reducing social stigma rather than just on advertising,” said Radhakrishnan.

Lim was equally critical.

“It was not tactfully and tastefully done. It was too jarring,” said Lim.

However, Radhakrishnan said the posters did left a deep impression on him.

“I never really remembered any other AIDS campaign. This one, I will,” said Radhakrishnan.

Despite the negative reactions, Tay is confident of his marketing strategy.

“We don’t care whether people like it or not. We want people to start talking about it and finally to come down to our exhibition,” said Tay.

Posters used in the campaign:

Photo: Dennis Nilsson

Photo: Dennis Nilsson

Photo: Dennis Nilsson