Adolf Hitler sex video condemned by Aids charities 

An Aids-awareness advert depicting Adolf Hitler having unprotected sex has been condemned by mainstream health charities for stigmatising people infected with the virus. 

By Matthew Moore (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/matthew-moore/) 

Published: 1:02PM BST 04 Sep 2009 

The provocative commercial, which ends with the tag-line "AIDS is a mass murder", aims to scare young people into using condoms by associating the deadly disease with the German dictator. In the highly-sexualised clip which can only be shown after the watershed, a couple undress and begin to make love in a dimly-lit bedroom. 

But what appears to be a typical, if steamy, advert for perfume or underwear takes a macabre twist when the camera pans to man's face at the moment of climax - revealing him to be Adolf Hitler. 

The commercial has been released to coincide with 2009 World Aids Day (http://www.worldaidsday.org/default.aspx) , but established HIV/Aids charities have distanced themselves from its message, saying that it could make life more difficult 

for sufferers. 

"Of course there are many HIV organisations that run their own campaigns, however I think the advert is incredibly stigmatising to people living with HIV who already face much stigma and discrimination due to ignorance about the virus," a spokeswoman for the National AIDS Trust, which co-ordinates World Aids Day in Britain, said. 

"On top of this it fails to provide any kind of actual prevention message (e.g. use a condom) and may deter people to come forward for testing. "

The advert is also inaccurate because in the UK thanks to treatment HIV is a manageable condition that does not necessary lead to AIDS." 

The commercial was produced by the young Hamburg-based advertising agency das comitee (http://www.das-comitee.de/) on behalf of a small German Aids awareness group called Regenbogen e.V (http:/www.stopaids.de/) . 

The group could not be contacted for comment this morning but defended its controversial approach on the "AIDS is a mass murder" website (http://www.aiem.de/typo3/index.php?id=aids_kampagne&L=1) . 

"The campaign is designed to shake people up, to bring the topic of Aids back to centre stage, and to reverse the trend of unprotected sexual intercourse. Because anyone can become infected," the website states. 

Hans Weishäupl, creative director of das comitee, told the Telegraph that it proposed the Hitler film after being briefed by Regenbogen e.V to come up with hard-hitting ideas. 

"A lot of people are not aware that Aids is still murdering many people every day. They wanted a campaign which told young people that it is still a threat," he said. "In Germany, Hitler is the ugliest face you can use to show evil". Mr Weishäupl said that the some members of the Regenbogen e.V organisation who have Aids raised concerns that the campaign could present a negative view of sufferers, but they agreed that the advert's shock value could help prevent the spread of the infection. 

The videos will be broadcast on German television stations from next week, but only after 9pm because of their sexual 

content. 

"We worked on the campaign for free because we wanted to help out," Mr Weishäupl said. "We have also produced versions in English and Spanish so they can be broadcast abroad, if there is interest." 

The campaign also features poster adverts of Saddam Hussein and Joseph Stalin, and a radio spot that re-works a famous speech by Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propagandist. 

BMJ Group blogs 

Journal of Medical Ethics blog 

AIDS=Nazism? 

4 Sep, 09 | by Iain Brassington 

 This is a very strange story that’s been picked up by the Daily Telegraph: a German Aids charity has been attacked for launching an advertising campaign - and a pretty sexually explicit one at that - in which people who spread HIV are presented as Hitler.  I’m not sure whether the target is people who have unprotected sex knowing that they’re HIV+, or just the sexually careless more generally.  Whatever: UK Aids charities aren’t happy: 

“This advert has absolutely nothing to do with us or World AIDS Day campaigns in the UK, which we coordinate,” a 

spokeswoman for the National AIDS Trust said. 

“Nor does it have anything to do with World AIDS Campaign who coordinate international campaigns and this year are focusing on human rights of people living with HIV. 

“Of course there are many HIV organisations that run their own campaigns, however I think the advert is incredibly stigmatising to people living with HIV who already face much stigma and discrimination due to ignorance about the virus. 

“On top of this it fails to provide any kind of actual prevention message (e.g. use a condom) and may deter people to come forward for testing. 

“The advert is also inaccurate because in the UK thanks to treatment HIV is a manageable condition that does not necessary lead to AIDS.” 

The Telegraph story has a link to the advert, which is also available via YouTube.  Be warned, though: it’s not safe for work (at least, not if you share an office with people you don’t know well), and probably almost certainly not safe for kids either.  The actual campaign’s site is here; it’s less sexually explicit, but you might want to turn down the speakers if you’re not into vaguely industrial music. 

For what it’s worth, I kind of agree with the National AIDS Trust on this.  The implication the people with HIV are genocidal madmen manqué doesn’t seem to be quite right.  And, while I think that HIV/ Aids is one of the (many) areas in relation to which the media ought to stop being so prissy and prudish, I’m not sure that this is much of an improvement.  I don’t have any problem with people being shocked out of HIV complacency - the “Don’t Die of Ignorance” campaign was a hell of a jolt at the time, and right on the money; and little gratuitous nudity here and there adds to the gaity of nations (anyone who denies this being either a sexless robot or a liar).  But somehow the two don’t sit together all that well.  Maybe it’s just because I kind of suspect that the ad will mostly be watched by teenage boys who’ll simply not pay any attention to the at-any-rate facile slogan.  They’ll be looking elsewhere. 

Ho hum. 

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This video has been removed from youtube. You may find the campaign & media offensive and it is explicit in nature. If you wish to reach your own judgement. You can access the website for the campaign by clicking here.