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Surviving & Thriving: AIDS, Politics, and Culture

AIDS Action Committee

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Stay negative, 1995

The person pictured in this AAC ad tries to model alternatives to the excuses men use not to wear condoms when having sex with one another. He announces his HIV-positive status in hopes of helping other men stay HIV-negative. By the mid-1990s, AIDS service providers recognized the need to combine care and treatment for HIV-positive people while also promoting safer sex as a way to prevent the spread of HIV.

  • Publisher(s):
    AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts
  • Type:
    Poster
Photograph of a man, his arms crossed before him, facing the camera. Text appears on the left-hand side of the poster.
Choose from the group
  • Black poster with yellow and white lettering, illustrated with a single image of a photographed hand on the verge of being clenched into a fist to grab something.
  • Photograph of a man wearing a vest and a t-shirt and holding in his left hand an unopened condom. Text appears on the left-hand side.
  • Photograph of a man, his arms crossed before him, facing the camera. Text appears on the left-hand side of the poster.
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    STAY NEGATIVE

    I’m HIV positive.
    I keep up my health.
    I have bad days and very
    good ones too.

    HONESTLY, I WISH I WERE NEGATIVE AGAIN.

    There’s a million excuses for having unsafe sex. Believe me, I used a lot of them: “I was drunk… He hasn’t said anything—he must be negative too… I didn’t want to be alone… I was afraid he’d leave if I mentioned condoms… We were lovers (after two weeks)…” You Can’t think HIV away.

    IF YOU ARE HIV NEGATIVE—STAY THAT WAY. DON’T LET THIS VIRUS INTO YOUR BODY.

    AIDS ACTION COMMITTEE OF MASSACHUSETTS © 1995 EDUCATIONAL MESSAGE SERVICES DESIGN GRAPHIC WORKS

    AIDS ACTION COMMITTEE HOTLINE 800.235.2331

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