D.C. Department of Health advertisement (Courtesy photo)
A bold new advertisement campaign launched by the D.C. Department of Health uses sexual innuendos to promote the use of a pill called PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) to stop the spread of the HIV virus.
The provocative ad, which has been running on local television to various reactions, shows a woman licking an ice cream cone, a man stroking a golf club and a bottle of mustard erupting.
“Thinking about sex,” asked and alluring female voice. “Then think about PrEP.”
PrEP, a daily pill approved by the FDA and recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, can reduce the risk of HIV transmission by more than 90 percent.
A decade ago, nearly four people a day were diagnosed with HIV in the city. Though the number dropped to less than one person a day in 2016, the number of HIV-positive residents (13,500, or 2 percent) living in the city exceeds the World Health Organization’s definition of 1 percent as a generalized epidemic.
D.C. health officials hope the ad will increase awareness of the pill to help prevent the spread of HIV.
Tatyana Hopkins has always wanted to make the world a better place. Growing up she knew she wanted to be a journalist. To her there were too many issues in the world to pick a career that would force her to just tackle one. The recent Howard University graduate is thankful to have a job and enjoys the thrill she gets from chasing the story, meeting new people and adding new bits of obscure information to her knowledge base. Dubbed with the nickname “Fun Fact” by her friends, Tatyana seems to be full of seemingly “random and useless” facts. Meanwhile, the rising rents in D.C. have driven her to wonder about the length of the adverse possession statute of limitations (15 years?). Despite disliking public speaking, she remembers being scolded for talking in class or for holding up strangers in drawn-out conversations. Her need to understand the world and its various inhabitants frequently lands her in conversations on topics often deemed taboo: politics, religion and money. Tatyana avoided sports in high school she because the thought of a crowd watching her play freaked her out, but found herself studying Arabic, traveling to Egypt and eating a pigeon. She uses social media to scope out meaningful and interesting stories and has been calling attention to fake news on the Internet for years.
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