'Stigma to Solution': Looking Back At India's Iconic AIDS Ad Campaigns

A couple of years into the turn of the century, Balbir Pasha was suddenly a buzzword in Mumbai. The name echoed across billboards, posters, radios, television sets, newspapers and was lodged into the collective consciousness of a city and country grappling with fear and stigma surrounding AIDS.

Who was Balbir Pasha? Why was everybody talking about him?

On World AIDS day, Outlook looks back at few AIDS media campaigns that put an indelible mark in India's battle against AIDS.

In 2003, around 4 million Indians were infected with HIV, second only to South Africa.  The epidemic was centered in Mumbai- a city housing almost 14 million people. Research on transmission of the virus and risk assessment revealed the glaring misconceptions that contributed to the spread of the epidemic in the country.

According to Population Services International (PSI), one out of every three men who visited a commercial sex worker (CSW) was unaware that a ‘healthy looking individual could carry the virus'. Most held on to the wonky belief that sex-workers were consistently at high-risk of contracting HIV, and the men visiting them were not. With a lack of proper conversation surrounding safe-sex practices in heterosexual and homosexual liaisons and consistent taboo-isation of the same, people easily gave into the stigmas and misconceptions surrounding the preventable disease.

Targeting high-risk groups, especially men in the 18-34 age bracket belonging to lower socio-economic groups, PSI-India designed a campaign focused on education and conversation, where an alter-ego, Balbir Pasha, a currency of inquisition and curiosity, was created to trigger necessary questions concerning transmission of HIV and its practices.

As people echoed the question found in a series of advertisements, ‘Balbir Pasha ko AIDS hoga kya?’, Mumbaikars across age groups and socio-economic layers, were talking about what exposed Balbir Pasha so greatly to the threat of the virus. Among many questions, one of the most important ones was if he should use protection while frequenting his regular CSW. With honest exchanges among the characters on screen mirroring the confusion of the targeted cross-section, the mass media campaign, under the umbrella of PSI-India’s Operation Lighthouse implemented to combat AIDS, and developed by Lowe Lintas, became one of the most effective and iconic health awareness campaigns in India.

The teasers starring the fresh faces in the likes of Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Sunita Rajwar, took off to an extent where even Amul parodied the campaign in one of its iconic advertisement hat-tips. 

Even beyond PSI's Operation Lighthouse, many other such campaigns and advertisements harnessed mass media to bring forth a holistic change in the way people perceived AIDS. A wild misconception that plagued the country was that AIDS spread through touch leading to patterns of discriminatory behaviour and inhumane treatment against HIV+ patients and their children. 

In the wake of this, one drifts back to Shabana Azmi's impactful quip, "Choone se AIDS nahi hota, Choone se sirf pyaar phailta Hai" in an advertisement conceived to tackle the same.

A division of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) is responsible for formulation of policy and implementation of programs for prevention and control of the disease in India. In one of their prominent advertisements starring actor Pavan Malhotra, NACO speaks out against prevalent discriminatory behaviours. Craftily written - when a manager receives resignation letters from his employees who cite the most absurd reasons to quit, he lashes out against the excuses, only to be reminded that he fired an HIV-positive employee Mohit on similar irrational grounds. 

In 2001, Cipla also became the only Indian pharmaceutical company that designed a mass media campaign on HIV/ AIDS. Putting across the message that living with AIDS "is not a death sentence" while also acknowledging the difficulties that HIV+ patients face daily, the ad was targeted at raising awareness about the epidemic, connecting with patients, and facilitating conversations.

According to the India HIV Estimation 2023 report, the current adult prevalence rate stands at 0.2 per cent, which shows how far India has come with the help of mass-media campaigns and health drives. As quoted on a 2010 NACO press release, Michel Sidibé, executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said,  "India's success comes from using an evidence-informed and human rights-based approach that is backed by sustained political leadership and civil society engagement."

India's AIDS ad campaigns were hailed quite progressive for its time. Numerous posters issued by government bodies and other organisations fusing Indian culture, smart messaging and pop colours have been archived owing to its relevance and artistic values. While the campaigns expectedly drew criticism from conservative groups and factions for its use of provocative language, it was immensely well received by the masses - driving change with audacity and vocal emphasis.