When I began at the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (now the Alaska Department of Health), one of the first projects I participated in was with the state’s STD program. Alaska has some of the highest STD rates in the country and the plan was to launch an awareness campaign that would include social media, posters, flyers, animated spots, and the distribution of condoms. The thing about condoms is that it is difficult to get people to use them. We needed to find a way to make condoms popular.
We started work on a series of Alaska-themed condom wrappers. I had some ideas and others contributed. The wrappers were bright red with a white silhouetted image on one side and an STD awareness message on the other. The images were cheeky like a silhouette of Alaska mud boots accompanied by the text “Wear Your Rubbers” or a man waving, riding the back of a bear with the text “You Know Barebacking Isn’t Safe, Right.”
The condoms proved to be popular and since their introduction, we have distributed thousands (591,215), and they have been mimicked by other states. The designs target different social groups, hikers, bikers, skiers, the military, the LGBT+ community, college students, and others. This made them a conversation starter and, as some have said, the best way to prevent the spread of STDs is condoms and conversation. I think we got that going.
A sampling of condom wrappers.
Campaign posters.
The message is printed on the back of each condom wrapper.
In addition to condom distribution, we ran regular awareness campaigns that included social media, posters, flyers, and other support materials.
A selection of social media posts.
During PRIDE month we partnered with the Anchorage Health Department to host testing events including testing during the largest PRIDE gathering on the park strip. Of the five social media posts we put out during the month, Mr. Velvet Knickers was deemed the most popular. So much so that a six-foot cut out of him was made and set up outside the city’s mobile testing van. A local pastor created his own oversized cutouts of some of the designs to encourage participation. We had a recorded number of people tested that year.
Flyers and social media art for the “This is a PSA for Testing” PRIDE campaign.
Images for social media.
Flyer for testing event.
g.l. harvey design 