Compulsory Screening: advertising AIDS in Britain, 1986-89

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Abstract
Since 1986 we have witnessed a succession of mass media campaigns that have aimed to provide information about HIV infection and AIDS. From the now notorious Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) iceberg and tombstone motifs designed to imprint the word ‘AIDS’ on the ‘general public’ consciousness, to the Health Education Authority’s (HEA’s) attempts to address the ‘realities’ of heterosexual sexual behaviour, the campaigns have been widely criticised both for their reliance upon fear tactics and for not meeting their ostensible aims of changing behaviour. In this paper we will propose that not only is this due to inherent contradictions in the use of the advertising media for the purposes of health education, but also that the real impetus of the campaigns has not been educational at all.

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