1.

PSI implemented a five year (2001-2005) HIV/AIDS STI

intervention programme in India entitled Operation
Lighthouse (OPL)

2. Across twelve port communities along the east and west
coasts of India

3. Deploying a set of integrated communication and service
provision strategies to decrease the spread of the AIDS
1. Targeting Allocates scarce resources to activities that promise
the highest impact among those likely to contract and transmit
the virus.

2. Integration In an integrated approach, mass media and inter-
personal communication are designed to inform, motivate and
create demand for services and products.

3. Information Changing behaviour is an iterative process, over
time. Steady production, analysis and use of good information
feeds into continuous programme improvement.
1. Now, health communication campaign in India, particularly
HIV/AIDS communications, were largely informative
educational in nature and rarely addressed the consumer
directly (Lets keep Mumbai AIDS free or HIV/AIDS does not
spread through touch).

2. HIV/AIDS communication campaigns, in general, have
perpetually portrayed the disease in a completely morbid
and fearful manner.

3. Communication campaigns have failed to personalise risk for
the individual.

Primary targets for prevention message
Young men in Mumbai between the ages of 18-40, who hail form lower
socio-economic groups and are among the highest risk for HIV infection.

Key communication objectives:
To increase perception of HIV/AIDS risk from unprotected sex with non-
regular partners by personalising the message and creating empathy
through identifiable real-life situations (Attitudinal Change)

To generate discussion about HIV/AIDS among the target populations and
opinion leaders in order to facilitate understanding and knowledge
acquisition. (Changing Social Norms)

To motivate people to access HIV/AIDS helpline and VCT services
(Behavioural Change)
Men in general population feel that clients of sex
workers are vulnerable to AIDS but fail to
recognise themselves to be at risk (NACO BSS 2002)

Strong link between alcohol consumption and
high risk sexual activity

Young men harbour negative attitude towards
condom use

There is a failure to recognise healthy looking
people as potential carrriers of HIV

Main objective- to increase risk perception

3 campaign themes generated from consumer insight:

1. Alcohol and high risk behaviour: I often use
condoms, but when I get drunk, I sometimes forget

2. Faith in regular partner: I only have physical
relations with this one person and hence I am safe

3. Failure to recognise asymptomatic carrier- If a
person looks healthy, he/she must be free from
HIV/AIDS


Bedrock of the campaign was the principle that
people can learn by observing the consequences
of others behaviour (Social learning theory, A.Bandura).

Creation of an alter ego- Balbir Pasha

If the symbolic model of Balbir Pasha engages
in behaviour that may put him at risk, the
consumer would be vicariously motivated to
avoid repeating this behaviour
Mix of
Various
Media
Print
Radio
Outdoor
TV
1. Outdoor communication in the red light area As men in this target
group frequent sex workers, placing messages on billboards and bus
shelters in this area helped the campaign achieve high reach and
visibility.
2. Outdoor communication and public transport With over 4 million
people traveling the Mumbai train network daily, many of whom are
men practicing high risk sexual behaviours, placing posters in trains and
at train stations allowed PSI to geographically target this population
while also creating a buzz in the general population.
3. Outdoor communication at cinema halls The high popularity of
Hindi and Marathi films provides an opportunity to communicate
complex messages to a captive audience through the use of various
outdoor media, especially as many B and C grade cinema halls are
located in areas where this population resides and/or frequent often.
Contd..
Surround and Engage:
Effective Media Selection
4. Mix of TV and radio channels As the target group profile is quite
heterogeneous with regard to ethnic/language groups, religious
communities, socio-economic profile etc., there was a need to feature
messages across a broad mix of television networks and radio stations.
This also allowed the campaign to achieve maximum reach to the
various general populations of Mumbai.
5. Print media - Next to television, print media has the highest
penetration in the target group, and therefore the Balbir Pasha
campaign was featured in major language papers (Hindi/Marathi)
available in Mumbai. This promoted high visibility of the campaigns
message via a medium that allows the consumer to engage himself
and ponder as he receives information.
Surround and Engage:
Effective Media Selection
5 phases over a period of 4 months

As each phase revealed progressively gossip value of
campaign increased


Teaser
Campaign
Theme 1
Alcohol
Theme 2
Regular
Partner
Theme 3
Healthy
Partner
Theme 4
Sadhan
Helpline
1. Teaser Building Intrigue (Nov 11 Nov 30, 2002): The first phase of the
campaign was aimed at building intrigue and cutting through the clutter of
advertising in Mumbai through a cleverly created teaser campaign. This teaser
campaign also served to build intrigue, and prepare the campaign for
subsequent phase. The teaser campaign, which ran all media channels
discussed above, depicted Mumbai is typical lower and middle income men
asking eac other the following question Win Balbir Pasha get AIDS?
2. Main Campaign Three Themes (Dec 1, 2002 January 27, 2003) The
second phase was more strategic, in that it leveraged key insights and
comprised of three personalized messages targeted at making these individuals
question their own behaviour.
3. Connect to Help-Line (January 28 February 11, 2003) Final stage
comprised messaging that directly approached the consumer, and asked them
to access Saadhan HIV/AIDS help-line that PSI has established. I dont want to
become Balbir Pasha. What should I do? Call the Saadhan Helpline if you
have any questions on HIV/AIDS.
Campaign Roll-Out

Balbir Pasha icon became entrenched in popular culture.
Buzz Numerous press and TV articles and reports were generated hailing the
sheer audacity and refreshing boldness of the campaign. Dominated mind share of
the Mumbai audience
Achieved phenomenal reach
Few critics strongly voices their discontent from the time the second theme of
regular partners. Specifically aimed at the television commercials rather than the
outdoor billboards and posters
Campaign was perceived to be anti-women as implying that HIV is passed on
from women to men.
Others felt that the campaign was not complete as they felt it only focused on
the (hetero) mode of transmission of HIV/AIDS.
TNS MODE gathered data through interviews
with TG

Noticeability-
1 out of 4 recalled Balbir Pasha spontaneously
Source of recall identified as posters in trains
(86%), while hoardings, TV and newspaper also
cited
More than 50% recalled main message use
condomn in high risk sexual activity

Comprehension-
Over 1/3
rd
stated that one should not interact with regular
partners without condomn
74% found campaign useful and interesting
88% found it believable

Attitude/ behaviour Change
shift in risk perception from 39% to 56% if visited healthy
looking sex workers
54% discussed campaign with others
28% recalled helpline and 60% said they might call
250% increase in mumber of calls made post execution of
the campaign
Consumer Insight

Building of Intrigue

Optimal Media Mix

Link with On Ground Activities

Infiltration into Popular Culture

Hard Hitting Messages