Give HIV the middle finger by getting tested.

December usually signals the beginning of the party season in South Africa. This is a time when the youth feel the need to go massive and party hard. It was the perfect time to launch our message as it coincided with World Aids Day.

We took MTV’s animation art direction and fused it with an underground South African music genre called, Gqom. We then personified and animated sperm in vibrant colours to bring a new perspective to the typical HIV design approach.

Campaign received 6.8 million impressions in 5 hours and became the no.1 trending topic in 9 minutes, out-trending #WorldAidsDay. Through the success of the campaign, MTV is now partnering with South Africa’s largest HIV prevention program.

South Africa has the highest HIV infection rate in the world. NGO’s have been relentlessly fighting the epidemic, but sadly their messages don’t seem to resonate with the youth. So how do we get this demographic to pay attention?

On world Aids Day, MTV launched a campaign to urge the youth to break the stigma by knowing their status. The MTV #FCKHIV campaign inspired the youth to “give HIV the middle finger” by simply changing the finger that is usually used to get tested. Instead of using the index finger, we asked the youth to switch to the middle finger.