Safer at Home: Exploring the ONE Archives CollectionMain MenuExhibition GalleryWeekly PicksExplore by CategoryExplore by PeopleExplore by TagsContemporary ArtistsAbout the CuratorAlexis Bard Johnson9328ae6a5985e503ee2cbc8a82cadb50636ac23d
Life Preserver
1media/Life Preserver_thumb.jpg2020-07-02T11:26:19-07:00Alexis Bard Johnson9328ae6a5985e503ee2cbc8a82cadb50636ac23d370891Text continues: "Wearing condoms saves lives. Maybe yours. Your partner's. Or the loves of future partners. And though condoms can't cure AIDS, they can stop it. But only if you wear them. So make a habit of sleeping with condoms. As though your life depended on it. Use condoms. There's living proof they stop AIDS." Black text on gray background. The upper half of the poster contains a black and white photograph of an unwrapped condom.plain2020-07-02T11:26:19-07:002018062614380120180626143801Alexis Bard Johnson9328ae6a5985e503ee2cbc8a82cadb50636ac23d
12020-07-02T13:24:45-07:00Week 11 (July 6, 2020)6plain2020-07-02T13:32:08-07:00The poster collection at the ONE Archives includes many examples, such as this one, of campaigns funded by different agencies and aimed at different viewers but all promoting condom use during the AIDS epidemic.The research is clear that abstinence is 100% effective in preventing AIDS, but impossible to implement as a universal public health strategy. These campaigns promoted the next best thing—condoms as a form of harm reduction or risk mitigation. They showed individuals how to still engage in sexual intercourse but almost entirely reduce the risk of transmission. Their aim was to make condom use widespread and accepted through education. Destigmatizing condom usage through consistent, direct, and varied messages was essential. The posters were clever, catchy, and appealing. Using humor and appeals to common sense, they raised awareness and promoted safer behavior.
Replace the condom with a mask and references to AIDS with COVID and these messages work as well today as they did in the late 80’s and 90’s. Then and now, risk reduction is essential to creating a safe environment. Wearing protection is not just about protecting oneself but also others. Neither mask or condom do any good if worn incorrectly, kept in one’s pocket, or not used at all. Though the act of wearing a condom or a mask is simple, getting compliance is challenging. The number of these posters shows the amount of messaging and educating required to change behavior—a reminder especially apt at a moment when the number of cases of COVID in the state of California is rising to new heights each day.