Bathroom Ads (1994)

AIDS Foundation Campaign: Taking it to the stalls

Hot new safe sex ads target toilets in gay establishments

San Francisco, CA, September 16, 1994 -- Starkly arousing images show attractive men enjoying three-ways, water sports, fellatio. Messages blare: "Safe Sucks." "Use Us." Video box ads from a porn catalogue? Not quite: They are toilet stall safe sex ads.

The bold, small-format posters, recently produced by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and distributed by San Francisco-based Educational Message Services, target gay and bisexual men with frank, nonjudgmental, responsible condom use messages. They are posted in restrooms -- on stall walls, above urinals, and over hand dryers -- at local gay restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and sex clubs, and at other businesses catering to gay and bisexual men.

"These ads allow us to reach a captive audience with very practical information for reducing risk for HIV," said Wayne Blankenship, prevention coordinator at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. "Recent studies show that adult gay and bisexual men in San Francisco understand the essentials of safe sex. But they need to hear and discuss more complex issues. For instance, how do we decide what is safe enough when it comes to lower risk activities like oral sex? And how do we relieve the stress of living in the epidemic's epicenter without losing the resolve to always play safe?"

The posters offer suggestions for staying safe in a variety of situations. They also supply referrals to participating HIV agencies, including the San Francisco AIDS Foundation's Trilingual Hotline (1-800-367-AIDS) and Compass Project (415-487-8010), which offers one-on-one peer support.

The ads can be seen in stalls in the Polk and Castro areas, and this weekend will appear in South of Market establishments. Plans call for future installations in the Haight, Bayview Hunter's Point, and Mission neighborhoods. New ads in production will specifically target younger gay and bisexual men, Latino men, African-American men, and recreational drug users.

Blankenship said this is the first time such messages have been placed in rest rooms in the U.S., and that similar campaigns have proven highly successful in reaching gay and bisexual men in Australia,.Canada, and Ireland.

"As the epidemic rages on, HIV-negative adult gay men need frank messages which reinforce a long-term commitment to safe behaviors," Blankenship said. "It is therefore imperative that we design and implement daring new strategies to reach those populations."

The campaign is part of a city-funded, nine-agency HIV prevention collaboration designed to streamline local HIV prevention programs and services. The San Francisco AIDS Foundation is the fiscal agent for the contract. Participating agencies include l8th Street Services, Bayview Hunter's Point, Iris Center, Stop AIDS Project, Women's Needs Center, Larkin Street Youth Center, Haight-Ashbury Free Clinics, and Tenderloin AIDS Resource.Center.

As part of the collaboration, Stop AIDS Project and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation are undertaking "neighborhood mobilizations" to reach gay and.bisexual men with safe sex messages, support and information. For summer mobilizations in the Castro and Pol, merchants included safe sex stickers with merchandise, and volunteers surveyed shoppers about sexual practices. On September 24 and 25, volunteers from both agencies will fan out throughout South of Market clubs and bars, handing out condoms and conducting surveys in an outreach campaign synchronized with the installation of the bathroom safe sex ads.

Educational Message Services (EMS) is working with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation to select appropriate venues in which to install and maintain the messages. Les Pappas, EMS National Director, explained the company's unique approach: "Some may chuckle at the notion of advertising in bathrooms. In reality, what better place is there to deliver explicit, life-saving messages about HIV or any other sensitive issue? This 'in your face' approach works because messages are literally unavoidable and the audience has plenty to time to read and consider them."

As part of an international corporation which has worked exclusively with non-profits and government health departments for eleven years, EMS will monitor all aspects of the San Francisco campaign and provide the collaborating agencies with specific feedback and reactions to the messages, including discussions with venue owners and, most interestingly, pertinent graffiti.

"I'm already hearing from bartenders that their customers are responding to the ads," Pappas said. "In fact, one bartender asked for his own supply of posters for customers who want them for their bathroom at home."