It seems that as the years advance, HIV and AIDS are becoming forgotten diseases. Everyone knows they’re there, but they’re not nearly as scary to people these days as they used to be, since the disease isn’t a guaranteed death sentence within a few years anymore. There are vaccines being worked on, stem cell research has shown progress, and there’s good news on all fronts regarding HIV/AIDS, but it’s still a terrible disease, and one German magazine is looking to raise awareness. The German magazine Vangardist printed an edition using HIV+ blood in the ink.
“People feel that the problem is solved and feel nothing is happening. This isn’t just a gay disease or just sits in Africa,” said Jason Romeyko, the creative director of Saatchi and Saatchi, who helped develop the idea. “Some people thought it was really gross [or morbid], then we found one great printer who printed the first edition.”
The company worked with a printer to add the HIV+ blood of three donors to the ink. The donation was supervised by legal and medical professionals at the University of Innsbrook, where the blood was pasteurized and sterilized to ensure that nothing communicable remained in the blood, HIV or otherwise. The magazine has been sent to subscribers, and the other issues will be auctioned off for charity.
Tags: publicity stunts, magazine printed with hiv blood, hiv positive blood used in magazine, magazine printed with hiv+ blood, germany, Vangardist, Jason Romeyko, University of Innsbrook, austria