In the 1980s, as the young died and doctors scrambled for answers, charities, activists, and governments tried to inform the public about a new killer: AIDS.
These posters, collected by the Wellcome Trust, reveal the various messages displayed around the world, amid widespread fear, ignorance, and misinformation about the epidemic.
Advertisement for AIDS information lines by the California Medical Association.
Poster from the America Responds to AIDS advertising campaign, 1980s.
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Some simply tried to tell people that AIDS is deadly.
An AIDS prevention advertisement by the Central Health Education Bureau in New Delhi.
A warning that AIDS is a prolonged death by the American Indian Health Care Association. 1989.
Many carried a single message: Use a condom.
An advertisement for safe sex by the Department of Health, Housing and Community Services of the Aboriginal Health Workers of Australia, 1990s.
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Advertisement by the State of California AIDS Education Campaign, 1990s.
The "put a rubber on it" message began in 1980s posters and continued throughout the 1990s. Many still bear the message today.
Advertisement by the Canadian Public Health Association, 1990s.
German version of a series of "Stop AIDS" campaign posters by the Federal Office of Public Health, 1990s.
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"Be good in bed! Use a condom."
Terrence Higgins Trust poster, 1990s.
Posters attempted to convey the condom message to all races, genders, and sexual orientations.
1990s.
Not only were condoms becoming increasingly more available, they were the single most effective protection against the HIV virus. Today, Truvada (aka PrEP), the drug that prevents HIV, is also as effective, for the minority who have access to it.
Poster by Naz Project, 1990s.
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As the epidemic grew, charities tried to find new, sexy, and sometimes explicit ways to encourage safer sex.
1990s posters by Gay Men Fighting AIDS (now called GMFA).
An advertisement for the AIDS-Hilfe Duisberg/Kreis Wesel, 1990s.
Ad for safe sex by the Australian AIDS Council with a list of regional council telephone numbers, 1994. And a banana design by the New Zealand Aids Foundation, 1990s.
This included promoting the female condom (aka femidom). It wasn't very popular.
Advertisement for the new female condom by the Black HIV/AIDS Network, 1990s.
Other posters took note of the dangers of sharing needles.
Advertisement for the AIDS Project by the California Department of Health Services, 1990s.
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And some even promoted the benefit of bleaching needles. (It's safer to use fresh ones, however.)
Instruction leaflet on how to clean syringes issued by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, 1988.
This poster warned of the dangers of blood transfusions, through which many people contracted HIV until the mid-1980s when screening began for all blood samples in most Western countries.
Advertisement issued by Ortho Diagnostic Systems, 1998.
But alongside the more obviously practical messages came attempts to remind people that the virus can affect anyone.
Poster by People of Colour Against Aids, 1990s.
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Advertisement by the Southern Health Board, 1992.
Advertising by the Jewish Aids Trust, 1990s.
A warning by the New York State Health Department that AIDS, 1990s.
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This poster, aimed at students, highlights many false assumptions about who isn't at risk. "I can't get AIDS. I only sleep with nice women."
Advertisement about the HIV virus by De Anza College Health Services. 1990s.
Some posters tried to tackle HIV-prevention messages for both sex and drug use.
By the AIDS Hotline in Hawaii. 1990s.
Others, like this Dutch design, promoted the idea that even when protecting yourself you can still have fun: "Live wild. Be safe."
Advertisement for safe sex and the AIDS Information Line in the Netherlands by the Stuurgroep AIDSpreventie Homo's and Buro GVO Amsterdam. 1991.
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And this campaign aimed to encourage the use – and washing – of sex toys, as a fun, safer way of enjoying sex, without penile penetration. Doctors now know that sharing sex toys can spread hepatitis C.
Advertisement by the Core Program. 1990s.
If sex toys weren't your thing, another option was suggested: masturbation. Ideally with someone else.
Poster by the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard. 1991.
But by the early 1990s, the death rate continued to rise, and so this 1987 image – perhaps the most famous internationally – was still in common use. It wasn't only found on posters, but also on stickers, banners, and T-shirts.
The Silence = Death Project by ACT-UP, The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. 1987.
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With the deaths came terror, stigmatisation, and violence against people living with HIV/AIDS. This campaign highlighted gender-based violence: "She told her husband she was HIV+. He took it badly."
Advertisement for the support provided by the London Lighthouse centre. 1990s.
There were many attempts to target women through poster campaigns, like this one, pinpointing the need for condom use not only to guard against unwanted pregnancy.
Derivation unknown. 1990s.
Some organisations seemed to encourage women to be abstinent: "A great love is worth the wait."
Warning about the risk of AIDS by the Alaska Native Health Board. 1992.
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Others sought to remind people that you cannot tell by looking at a woman what her HIV status is.
United States. Dept. of Health and Human Services. 1991.
Some used children to catch the attention of parents – or potential parents. "Who will take care of him? You can't afford to be sick."
Advertisement for The Aids Health Project. 1990s.
There were posters aimed at sex workers. "Don't have sex without a rubber for anything."
Advertisement by the State of California AIDS Education Campaign. 1990s.
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HIV/AIDS charities were in desperate need of funds, so many used adverts and posters to gain donations. This one from Germany featured a photo of man with lesions, a common symptom for people with AIDS-related skin cancers.
An appeal for donations to the AIDS fund by Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe. 1990s.
Other organisations like ACT-UP used posters to galvanise activists into calling for better healthcare and drugs for HIV-positive people. It wouldn't be until 1996, after millions had already died, that effective anti-retrovirals arrived.
Ad by ACT-UP for an AIDS demonstration on Friday 6 October 1989.
Some groups simply advertised their services.
Advertisement for the AIDS hotline by the AIDS Project Los Angeles. 1993.
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A poster for the residential unit of the London Lighthouse centre for those with AIDS and HIV. 1990s.
A crucial message in many of the posters was to encourage everyone to support, not judge, people with HIV/AIDS
Advertisement by the New Zealand AIDS Foundation. 1990s.
South Africa Dept. of Health. 1996.
Some countries, such as Kenya, incorporated the need to take care of HIV-positive people – and oneself – by emphasising the importance of family.
AIDS prevention advertisement by the NGO AIDS Consortium with PATH in Kenya. 1997.
And on World Aids Day — 1 December 2015 — with 35 million dead, and 34 million still living with the virus, this poster, once aimed at individuals, could now be aimed at governments who fail to respond to the crisis.
Advertisement prepared by Pihas, Schmidt and Westerdahl for Oregon Health Division. 1997.
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