Fire Chief Says Department Is Moving Forward
Arceneaux, Dobson, Irving and Kemp Will Meet in City Council Runoff
Carlos Santana Receives Tribute at 12th BMI Annual Latin Awards
Baseball Great’s Daughter Is Witness to Sport’s Desegregation
Radical Weight Control May Lead Girls to Obesity, Study Says
AIDS and HIV Get Prime Attention on Viacom-Owned Networks
Young environmentalists Marjorie
Shipp, member, Compton Unified School District Board of Trustees,
assists first-graders from Emerson Elementary in planting a native
California shrub along the Compton Creek bike trail in honor of International
Earth Day.—AP Photo/CBS, Cliff Lipson
By
Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn
“Being ‘P.C.’ can be death to comedy,” says Meg
DeLoach, and it’s exactly what the creator and executive producer
of UPN’s “Eve” wanted
to avoid in the sitcom’s episode on HIV.
In the episode “Testing, Testing, HIV,” airing 8:30 p.m. EST
Tuesday, Shelly (played by rapper-actress Eve) is eager to go to “the
next level” with her new beau. But he insists she get an HIV test.
Afraid to go it alone, she rounds up her guy and gal pals for the
trip to the clinic where real-life realities about the disease are played
in tandem with raucous gags.
“We even have (a character) at the clinic taking pictures, recording
this occasion, and saying things like, ‘Smile! Say HIV,” DeLoach
giggles.
“It is a serious subject, but it’s OK to laugh in these situations,” she
continues. “I’ve taken several HIV tests and even when there’s
no reason to be worried, I worry. Oftentimes you’re just terrified.
The flip side to the terror is that nervous laughter of what the
results are going to be. But you can’t laugh until you know what’s
going on.”
“Eve” is among many Viacom-owned network shows to address the
issue through its 3-year-old “Know HIV/AIDS” initiative. It’s
a project in partnership with the nonprofit Henry J. Kaiser Family
Foundation.
“It might seem like odd bedfellows — Kaiser and Viacom,” notes
Kaiser Vice President Tina Hoff from her office in Menlo Park, Calif. “But
we’re a company that tries to reach out to people with information.
Viacom can reach them. That’s why the relationship works so well.”
Viacom has committed $600 million to the effort, with about $220
million to be spent this year on its multimedia “Knowing Is Beautiful” campaign
featuring six public service announcements for its television, radio and
outdoor billboard properties. (The Viacom comglomerate includes CBS and
UPN; cable networks MTV, BET, VH1, CMT: Country Music Television, TV Land,
Nick at Nite, Showtime, Spike TV and Comedy Central; and 183 Infinity Broadcasting
radio stations in the top 50 markets.)
So far, campaign messages have been translated into seven languages
reaching millions throughout Africa, the Caribbean, Britain, Russia and
China.
In scripted programming, CBS’s top drama, “CSI: New York,” and
long-running “Judging Amy” have featured HIV/AIDS-themed shows
this season. In June, Showtime’s “Queer As Folk” will
tackle a three-episode arc in which Hunter, a heterosexual teen played
by Harris Allan, is ostracized at school for being HIV-positive.
“These were issues we would have dealt with anyway because of the
world of the show,” notes “Queer” co-executive producer
Daniel Lipman. “But it’s important, personally, because the
first wave of AIDS hit people that I knew. Since ‘Queer As Folk’ has
been on, (AIDS) has come back furiously and a whole new generation
has to deal with this.”
“The feedback and the reception we’ve gotten, particularly
from those who write and produce our programs, has been amazing,” says
Carl Folta, executive vice president of corporate relations for Viacom,
which
has won an Emmy and a Peabody award for the initiative. “So many
recognized immediately that they were in a very powerful position
to do something about this.”
Considering the pervasiveness of American media, HIV advocacy and
education groups agree.
“Anytime a media giant like Viacom takes on the challenge of educating
people about HIV, it is a very good thing for anyone concerned about
HIV,” says
Sarah Whitehead, director of communications for AIDS Action in Washington.
But in recent years, AIDS has lost much of its media appeal due to
the development of more effective drugs.
“There is no cure,” says Whitehead, “and the side effects
of current medications are debilitating. There are social and psychological
consequences that people living with HIV face (that) are still as
real
today as they were in the beginning stages of the epidemic.”
Nearly 40 million people — more than ever before — are living
with the disease worldwide, according to a December 2004 report published
by UNAIDS, a joint U.N. program. Racial and ethnic minorities have been
disproportionately affected, according to Kaiser, representing 71 percent
of new AIDS cases, primarily among blacks, Latinos and American Indians.
As troubling as those statistics are, Kelli Lawson, executive vice
president of corporate marketing for BET, says Viacom’s outreach
efforts are effecting change.
In a survey of blacks conducted by Kaiser last August, among 18-to-24-year-olds
exposed to Viacom’s campaign, half said they had discussed safe sex
practices with their partner because of the Viacom campaign.
And nearly 77 percent of that group who were sexually active said
they were more likely to use a condom because of the campaign.
“It really is a tremendous initiative, and the results have been
phenomenal,” says
Lawson “It’s been just such a huge, huge effort. It has made
a difference.”
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