Pattison company rejects AIDS ads for Gay Men
Pattison company rejects AIDS ads
WebPosted CBC Jun 15 2004 01:19 PM PDT
VANCOUVER - Vancouver businessman Jimmy Pattison's billboard company has refused to run Canada's first national AIDS ad campaign targeting gay men.
The Health Canada posters, depicting gay men in suggestive poses, are aimed at reducing the high rate of unprotected sex in the gay community.
LINK: Health Canada background on HIV/AIDS among gay men
Phillip Banks of AIDS Vancouver says an official at Pattison Outdoor told him, "the messages and the visuals are inappropriate for our environment.
"It's Pattison's name, and so we have to be careful of Pattison's name," says Banks.
In addition to being of the the country's wealthiest men, Pattison is well known for his conservative political and religious views.
INDEPTH: HIV and AIDS in Canada - CBC
Banks also says Pattison owns all the key billboard space in gay communities in all major Canadian cities except Toronto.
In spite of Pattison's snub, the ads will run on billboards owned by Viacom – as well as on bus shelters and in print advertising in six Canadian cities for the rest of the summer.
Almost 60,000 Canadians are currently infected with HIV.