HIV Trials Unit Campaign is Stomping & Hammering out AIDS

The last few weeks in Seattle I have seen a few ads on the Metro buses for the Seattle HIV Vaccine Trials Unit. You can see the other 2 ads below. The work was done pro-bono by FCB Seattle and I think they did a really nice job. The print says,

"Take action. Join a paid study.
You can't get HIV by participating,
but you can help end the disease."

I think the images are strong and get to the point. If we work together, we can stop HIV. If only stopping HIV was as easy as taking a hammer to the little bugger viruses. I wish the bottle with the copy on it would have been placed better though. It took me awhile to find it cause the transit banners were split with the bottle on the right so it looked like it wasn't attached unlike in the example given. The ad is kind of a cliff hanger without the text. I was wondering why there was just this image of a hammer getting ready to take out this giant HIV. I was thinking it was some public service ad telling people we need to stop the spread of HIV. Cool, but that would be a no brainer. Luckily I saw the bottle and it let me know how I could be one of those people hammering out HIV.
Needless to say, I think this HIV campaign was done in much better taste than this one. Even though one is for awareness and one is for a clinical research study, the subject matter was presented in far more powerful and pleasant manner.

LifeSavers Bus Campaign

Alright, I guess I've become a critic of unhealthy foods' advertising. Today, LifeSavers. On my way to work the last couple of weeks, I've seen the metro buses covered in LifeSavers advertising. They have buses completely painted that say, "It's good to be sweet." And, they have billboards on the sides of the buses that say a few things, but the one that catches my eye the most says, "I don't have to drag race other buses to prove my manhood." With the other saying, "I'm everbody's designated driver." I don't have a picture of this one yet, but I'll try to get one and repost this. I think this campaign is only running in Seattle, but it could be in a few other select cities.

So, let the ripping begin. After working on a Coca-Cola campaign that targeted youth 13-21 year olds, I'd like to think I have a pretty good idea about advertising sugar to people who shouldn't be consuming more sugar. "It's good to be sweet" seems like a little way around the subject of unhealthy. Candy sales are slipping because people are watching out for this stuff more. Especially on the West Coast where granola health nuts control the market. So, how do you get a bunch of city dwelling tree huggers to buy candy again? You make sugar a good thing - but you don't use the word sugar, you substitute it with "sweet." It's good to eat sugar is basically what LifeSavers is saying, but when you say "sweet" it just changes it so it sounds like a really good thing. Could it be subliminal advertising? After reading a few other Seattlite blog posts about the buses, it seems people like the campaign. Check it out -
I'll see if I can snag a photo of the side billboards and repost.

I was taking a look at this again and I think Bill cosby's head is on the side panel picture. It's only half his face, but I think it's him.