Groundbreaking Ads Confront Stigma and Debunk Myths in Response to Latino AIDS Crisis
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Sept. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Kaiser Family Foundation and Univision Communications Inc, the nation's leading Spanish-language media company today unveiled "SOY..." ("I AM..."), a groundbreaking Spanish-language media campaign featuring the personal stories of a diverse group of Latinos living with HIV and the people who love them. The campaign was previewed today for approximately 3,000 members of the HIV/AIDS community during the opening plenary session of the 2008 United States Conference on AIDS (USCA) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. SOY... will debut nationally on Univision network and radio in conjunction with National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (NLAAD) on October 15th and continue throughout 2009.
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For the first time in a national media campaign, SOY... profiles HIV-positive Latinos and their loved ones speaking openly about subjects not commonly discussed in Hispanic households. Campaign participants range in age from two teenage sisters (one positive, one negative) from Los Angeles to a 77-year-old grandmother in Puerto Rico and her daughter in Miami who has been living with HIV for more than ten years.
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Developed by Univision and the Kaiser Family Foundation, SOY... includes 12 original public service ads (PSAs) each in television and radio formats and Spanish-language HIV/AIDS information and resources available online through a dedicated website (http://www.univision.com Uniclave: SIDA) and via a toll-free Spanish-language hotline (1-866-TU-SALUD). The campaign was developed as part of Enterate del VIH y SIDA! (Get the Facts about HIV and AIDS!), a long-standing public information partnership established in 2001 between Univision and the Kaiser Family Foundation to provide culturally relevant Spanish-language information and resources about HIV/AIDS.
"Univision has enjoyed a long-standing partnership with the Kaiser Family Foundation, building on Univision's legacy of informing and empowering our audience," said Ivelisse Estrada, senior vice president, Corporate and Community Relations for Univision Communications. "SOY... encourages families to openly discuss the topic of HIV/AIDS."
"Despite its significant impact on the Latino community, AIDS is not discussed in many households," said Tina Hoff, vice president and director of Entertainment Media Partnerships at the Kaiser Family Foundation. "By helping to personalize HIV/AIDS through the individuals who opened their lives for this campaign, SOY... seeks to break down the stigma that allows this disease to spread."
Emmy-winning Univision journalist, Teresa Rodriguez, previewed SOY... today at USCA during a special plenary session examining the AIDS crisis facing U.S. Latinos. As part of the session, SOY... participants "Dee" and "Milagros" were joined by Dr. Carmen Zorrilla, an HIV-specialist OB-GYN at the University Hospital in Puerto Rico, and Guillermo Chacon of the Latino Commission on AIDS for an intimate discussion of the importance of speaking openly about HIV with family and loved ones, in schools, at churches and throughout the Latino community.
SOY... is an official media component of NLAAD. Univision and Kaiser are working with the Latino Commission on AIDS and the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD) to distribute HIV/AIDS information resources and SOY... programming materials to community organizations, state and local health departments and local clinics across the country.
About HIV/AIDS and U.S. Latinos
Of the approximately 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States, about 200,000 are Latino. Latinos have been disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS, accounting for 19 percent of AIDS cas
