Sporting terms such as “playing the field’ and “scoring’ take on a whole new meaning when linked with HIV and AIDS, as they do in the new animated television commercials (animerts) for the HIV/AIDS prevention Scrutinize campaign.
Produced by Cape Town-based creative agency Matchboxology, the Scrutinize animerts use football analogies to highlight the dangers of risky sexual behaviour.
Says Scrutinize project manager Bronwyn Pearce, of Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa: “It’s generally considered cool to play the field, and fortunate to score – but that should only be the case on the field. Off the field, the danger is that the “playa’ may be infected with HIV. What we’re doing now, is using a football analogy to show how easy it is to pass HIV from one person to another.’
In the first new animert, Dangerous Passes, TV sports presenter Carol Manana joins taxi driver Victor – the motor-mouthed voice of Scrutinize, played by comedian Joey Rasdien – to commentate a big match at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.
The action is hot, as the ball is passed from toyboy (a man who sleeps with older women) to losgabi (a woman who is easily persuaded to have sex), who then passes it to sejabana (a man with many partners), who kicks it on to washesha (a man who frequently changes partners). Washesha passes the ball to the Minister of Finance (an older man who gives money to a younger partner in exchange for sex), who moves it on to young love (a young man who propositions a younger woman).
Suddenly Ninja HIV (whom viewers will recognise from previous Scrutinize animerts) appears from undercover to shibobo the style of all the players, and reveal how HIV has moved from one to the other.
The three new Red Card animerts, one 30-second and two 15-second commercials, invite viewers to become a lifetime referee and Red Card Daai Ding (risky behaviour) – whenever someone makes a risky move, just like on the field, they are shown a red card.
In the 30-second commercial, titled Red Card, Shebeen Queen (an established Scrutinize character) Red Cards a very drunk patron and the two equally inebriated young women with him. In Phuza Protocol, a man who plies a woman with alcohol is handed a Red Card by the barman. And in Birds on a Wire, three schoolgirls Red Card a Minister of Transport (a man trying to impress them with his flashy car).
“What is very important to note, however, is that the red cards are not aimed at the people receiving them, but rather at their actions which contribute to the spread of HIV, such as intergenerational and transactional sex, and alcohol abuse,’ concludes Pearce.
