“STIs are spreading fast: Always use a condom” warns the Commonwealth’s first sexual health campaign in over 20 years. It reflects a genuine trend: Many sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have been on the increase in recent years, none more so than Chlamydia, notifications of which have risen unabated from 16,958 nationally in 2000 to 58,510 in 2008.

Given the need for a national campaign, and the good deal of media generated when the then health minister Tony Abbot announced the campaign in 2007, there were high hopes when the campaign finally launched at the end of May this year. What was finally revealed is a decent campaign, but I find myself disappointed by of a couple of decisions made during its development.

A marketing message such as this can be broken roughly into two sections: The ‘fear’ or driving element, which seeks to convince the audience of the severity of the problem and their own personal vulnerability; and the desired action, which the audience needs to believe is possible and will work.

The visual intensity of this campaign is characteristic of a fear campaign. The imagery, typeface and blunt message invoke ‘hard-hitting’ campaigns past and present: “Ice tears your life apart”, “How fast are you going now” and “Every cigarette is doing you damage”. The campaign is trying to use fear (of ‘peeing razor blades’ or of infertility) as a driver for action, but it lacks the visual and emotional impact of the other campaigns.

I am not a great fan of fear campaigns but the finished product here seems to be a somewhat watered down campaign that is not really sure what it is: It neither really incites fear, nor does it make the audience feel good about making healthier choices, or acknowledge that people have sex for reasons other than spreading infections.
The call the action of the campaign is similarly unconvincing. A disconnect exists between the main message “STIs are spreading” and the call to action “always use a condom”. The implication is that always using a condom will halt the spread of STIs, but this is only a half truth.

Condom use has been central to the HIV response from the beginning and remains the best way to prevent HIV transmission. They do reduce the risk of many other STIs as well, but generally not to the same extent, which is why we have long promoted sexual health check-ups for everyone who is sexually active, regardless of condom use. A call to action for sexual health check-ups would probably be a better fit to the “spreading fast” assessment.

The amount the Commonwealth has managed to pack into this campaign is remarkable.  While the print ads and radio spots get the most attention, I am sure the greatest impact will come from the sub-campaign targeting GPs and tied in with professional development to increase their capacity to comfortably talk about sexual health with patients. There are also classroom guides, supported with various resources that have the potential to reach many young people with the support of teachers.

This is the biggest mainstream sexual health campaign that has appeared for years, and despite my reservations, the campaign will at least raise awareness of sexual health among heterosexual young people and GPs; the campaign’s two best targeted audiences.

For more about the campaign, and to order resources, visit www.sti.health.gov.au.