November 26, 2007

Italian Ad Uses the “C” Word: Condom

A new TV advertising campaign created by well-known Italian movie director Francesca Archibugi to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in Italy is the first ever there to include the word “condom,” challenging a longstanding taboo in the predominantly Roman Catholic country (reuters.com, 11/22).

Previous Italian public service announcements aimed at raising awareness about HIV and promoting safer sex have featured pictures of condoms without mentioning them by name.

Archibugi and her team filmed the commercials at a pharmacy in Rome’s Fiumicino airport. Archibugi said that it is important to get HIV awareness messages out in Italy, where 4,000 people are infected with HIV every year.

Condoms are widely sold in the country and are often available from street vending machines. However, the Roman Catholic church condemns condom use, teaching instead that fidelity within heterosexual marriage and abstinence are the best means of tackling HIV and AIDS.