Posted by Wayves volunteer 18/09/2013
HALIFAX, September 8 — Eight local gay men are the faces of the recently launched Check Me Out campaign aimed at gay and bi (and bi-curious) men. The smiling models each appear in ads and posters wearing a Check Me Out T-shirt beside the caption “I get checked out... will you?” in what looks like a personal ad.
“I liked the idea of ... using someone people might know,” says campaign model and local journalist Simon Thibault.
The cheeky approach to the promotional arm of the campaign was very deliberate says Gay Men’s Health Coordinator Chris Aucoin. “We wanted to use local men,” says Aucoin, “and also do it in an upbeat, even light-hearted way.” “We think sex is great, and whether you have one partner a year or one hundred, we want gay and bi men to enjoy sex and keep it as healthy as possible.”
The campaign is promoting a sexual health checklist - not of what to do (or not do) during sex - but of things to ask your doctor about. “While we still want guys to think about and practise safer sex and harm reduction,” says Cybelle Rieber, prideHealth coordinator, “this isn’t another safer sex message.This time we want guys to think about what they do to look after their sexual health when they aren’t having sex.”
Aucoin says that many don’t seem to know what to ask their doctors for regarding tests, vaccinations or physical exams. “So we created a ‘cheat sheet’ of what health experts recommend gay and bi men ask about, and included both ‘why’ and even where to go for tests if they aren’t OK with talking to their doctor.”
“For that matter," adds Aucoin, "doctors often don’t know what they should be discussing with their gay and bi male patients either.” So the campaign offers two checklists: one for gay and bi men, and a second expanded one for family doctors and other health care professionals. Rieber explains that creating a resource for doctors is a key element of the campaign. “It ensures the information for doctors is out there in one concise format and location, and this information mirrors what gay and bi men will be asking for.”
The series of campaign posters and ads that are promoting the checklists feature men ranging from age 22 – 63. All are out and have a public profile to some degree: a popular DJ, an LGBT activist, professional drag queen, classical pianist, etc.
“I think people have gotten condom fatigue and info fatigue,” says campaign model Thibault. “If you can put a face to [a topic like HIV and STI testing] it creates dialogue, ‘Oh did you see so-and-so on the poster…’ ”
Aucoin says that models have agreed to do this because they care about their community. “It's important to get tested because it really puts your mind at ease,” says model Sonny Woodworth – aka ‘DJ Sonny D’. “And if you find out you do have a disease like Syphilis you can start treatment sooner, [and] reduce the harmful effects of the disease.”
The campaign aims to help gay and bi men learn how to protect both themselves and their partners. "The most important thing,” says Aucoin, “is that we get some conversations started about regular testing as part of good sexual health maintenance.”
Campaign models are already being asked questions by their friends. “They all thought it was a great idea” says Sonny Woodworth of his appearing in the campaign. “Most of the questions people asked were about how I got involved... and why.” Aucoin hopes that both gay and bi men, and their doctors, will use the checklists to begin those conversations. Both checklists are available at www.ACNS.ns.ca/Check-Me-Out for download along with more information about why the checklist items are important to consider.
The Check Me Out campaign was launched at Halifax Pride with posters, the first set of print and online ads featuring the first three campaign ambassadors, and teams of volunteers passing out printed copies of the men’s checklist at the post-parade Community Fair.
Over the next few months new posters and ads featuring additional men in the campaign will be released, along with additional event-based marketing in the fall. The campaign was developed by the AIDS Coalition of Nova Scotia’s Gay Men’s Health Project in partnership with prideHealth, the Youth Project, the Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project, OUTAlive and the Halifax Sexual Health Centre, and in consultation with two local family physicians.
