VH1 said it would begin running a series of provocative public-service announcements next week depicting the seriousness of AIDS as part of a public-education campaign it is running with The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
VH1 committed to contributing about $4 million worth of advertising inventory to run the PSAs over a two-year period, a source said.
The ads will direct viewers to VH1.com/AIDS and to a Global Fund Web site, where they will be able to learn more about AIDS and how they can donate money to help fight the disease.
VH1 said one of the 30-second spots will depict the “overwhelming yet often overlooked effect AIDS has on our global community. Twenty-two million have already died. Forty million more are infected. The spot declares that the real weapon of mass destruction is global AIDS.”
The network added that another spot points out that the average life expectancy in some of the countries worst-hit by the AIDS epidemic is 33 and asks what life would be like in the United States if the life expectancy was 33 years old.
“Would people notice? Would they try to change it? This spot introduces people in the U.S. to the global AIDS epidemic and encourages them to act -- before it’s too late,” VH1 said.
