A few weeks ago I got an email through the Tushar-Unadkat listserve, which goes out to South Asian film, fashion and media professionals around the U.S. and Canada (see our earlier post):
"Gay Men & Women needed for a paid focus group next week!!
$75 cash for one hour
Space is limited so please call JACK immediately at..."
Further down, there was another message, from Firdaus Ali, the Program and Media Coordinator for the Toronto-based Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention:
"We are looking for models of diverse South Asian ethnicities and age groups to participate in the shoot. We are also recruiting professional hair stylists, make-up artists, and henna artists who would like to volunteer their time on this project...."
I got in touch with Firdaus (who formerly worked for Mid-Day in Mumbai), and he told me his group was trying to combat homophobia and create more HIV/AIDS awareness among South Asians through a media campaign.
"In 2005 we created two posters, “Why Can’t I tell you I have HIV?” to garner acceptance for people living with HIV. The posters were colourful and were shot in the South Asian cultural milieu. The same year we also had a campaign for gay men and Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) – and we produced two television commercials and ran print ads, showing two men standing near a streetcar, in a very casual look. The tagline on this poster read 'The only thing that needs to change here... is your attitude!'”
Starting late in 2006 the group had another campaign with TV commercials (shot by Sunil Kalia) using the line “Wrap it Right” and employing music and humor.
"So, you see women wrapping saris, a male wrapping a turban, a couple wrapping a roti and such saying 'We Wrap it Right.' At the end of the commercial, you see a gay couple with a condom and one of them saying, “We wrap it right, but the question is do you?” Of course, they are talking about safer sex and HIV Prevention among other things. We just felt that showing different couples and then a same sex couple, could help normalize homosexuality."
If you look carefully on the side of the images, you'll notice one more thing: it's funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada.
For more information, visit ASAAP's website.
