Bull’s Eye: AHF’s “No Judgemental Bullsh*t” HIV Testing Campaign Hits the Mark
Never look a bull in the eye. That’s lifesaving advice for a toreador in the ring at Seville. But for a driver in Los Angeles, looking into a bull’s eye just might be the thing that saves your life - or the life of someone you love.
That is what the folks at AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) are hoping anyway. The non-profit organisation’s newest billboard campaign to promote HIV testing — now on display throughout Los Angeles — features a life-sized bull, complete with tail and horns, along with the slogan “No Judgemental Bullsh*t” and the website www.freeHIVtest.net. The quote is taken from LA Weekly’s recent “Best of L.A.” issue in which AHF’s “Out of the Closet” Thrift Stores were named “Best Second-Hand Store to get free HIV Testing”:
“The world’s most fa-a-a-bulous thrift store, the Out of the Closet chain has 13 Southern California locations, six of which provide free HIV-testing and counseling on a walk-in basis (Hollywood, West Hollywood, Venice, Atwater Village, Echo Park and Long Beach)… They salvage wardrobes, they save lives, and you won’t get no judgemental bullsh*t either.”
“’No judgemental bullsh*t’— we couldn’t have said it better ourselves,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “After all, the goal of having free HIV testing at ‘Out of the Close’ stores is to take the stigma out of the experience, to make testing accessible and easy, and to remove what, for some, remains a significant obstacle to getting tested: the fear that someone is going to probe into their personal habits and judge them for it.”
The HIV testing counselors at “Out of the Closet” are friendly and non-judgemental. They are there to help people know their HIV status so that they can protect their health and that of their partners.
The “Out of the Closet” counselors are there to educate people about what could make them safer—but no one is going to make a client feel like a steaming pile for engaging in the activities that might have led him/her to be concerned to begin with.
To find an “Out of the Closet” HIV testing site, visit www.freehivtest.net.
To rate AHF’s “No Judgemental Bullsh*t” campaign online, go to AHF’s Facebook page.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organisation, currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 120,000 individuals in 22 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. www.aidshealth.org