DETROIT, PONTIAC & ANN ARBOR, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--statussexy.com goes live today, February 14, 2011, as part of Michigan's Black AIDS Awareness Campaign (BAAC). More than just a website, this social media campaign embodies a community-based effort to increase HIV testing among young black men who have sex with other men. The “attraction” is to highlight just how sexy the confidence of knowing your HIV status can be. The look of the site and campaign reflects its message, with a sexy, high fashion, modern style. The site includes multiple interactive features like discussion boards, the ability to share stories and videos, and a search feature for an HIV test site. To drive traffic to statussexy.com, initial teaser ads and billboards make it appear as if the site is a hookup site.
The campaign came out of a community mobilization effort supported by AIDS Partnership Michigan (APM), HIV/AIDS Resource Center (HARC) and community members from Detroit, Pontiac and Washtenaw County. The campaign, developed by local creative boutique And So She Wrote, is already generating controversy. At least one prominent media outlet in Washtenaw County, Ann Arbor Transit Authority, has refused to run the statussexy.com ads.
“Radio ads, billboards, social networking sites, and outreach teams throughout Metro Detroit, Pontiac, and Washtenaw County are in place to start the conversation about how taking an HIV test shows confidence, and confidence is always sexy,” says Wil Bowen, Community Mobilization Project Associate on the statussexy.com campaign.
The next phase of the campaign begins March 1st, with a top-secret “Bold Move.”
According to the CDC, 52% of new HIV infections are in young black men, which is why they were targeted for this effort. Statistics also show that those who do not know their HIV status account for up to 70% of new sexually transmitted HIV infections in the US. However, most who learn they are infected take important steps to protect others from infection.
About the Community Mobilization Project:
The Community Mobilization Project was established in July 2010. It is the result of a grant from the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) to increase the level of testing among young black men who have sex with men in Detroit, Pontiac and Washtenaw County. AIDS Partnership Michigan (APM), in collaboration with HIV/AIDS Resource Center (HARC), is coordinating and overseeing all efforts.
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