Advertising campaign - Safe sex
Project brief
For this project, we were tasked with creating a safe sex campaign that consists of various deliverables. the campaign should be eye-catching and relevant in today's society. There should be one golden thread that runs throughout the project that keeps your campaign focused on the task at hand which is advertising safe sex. Your campaign must be easily understood by the general public in order for it to work successfully so simple yet impactful imagery and concepts will work best for this. We are also required to use photography as a main image-making medium. Research into this topic is imperative as it will help us inform and back up all our decisions when coming up with a concept.
Project deliverables
Collateral
- 1 x digital poster
- 1 x WeTransfer background — Introduce animation!
- 1 x up-to-you deliverable, presented in a format that is fitting (digital mock-up, IRL mock-up, apt-file)
- 1 x vertical narrative
Collateral
- 1 x digital poster
- 1 x WeTransfer background — Introduce animation!
- 1 x up-to-you deliverable, presented in a format that is fitting (digital mock-up, IRL mock-up, apt-file)
- 1 x vertical narrative
Design strategy
My strategy in this project was to inform viewers about the ease of getting treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. I wanted to do this in a fun and light-hearted way by using phrases from well-known and popular television series such as Parks and recreation, by doing this I hope to kill the stigma around STDs and the shame that people who have STD's feel. I also intend to add a humorous aspect to it by taking photos of objects not usually associated with STD's such as doughnuts and legs, both of these can imply some sort of sexual innuendo but can be seen in other aspects of treating yourself, such as spoiling yourself and getting a pedicure and leg wax or eating a doughnut on your cheat day. My strategy in terms of design layout is to keep it clean and easy to read as the subject matter and photography should speak for themselves, I want to not have a lot for people to read as most of the time people don't want to be seen reading an advert about treating STD's.
Research
Initial research on the topic of safe sex.
Safe sex promotes the usage of various contraceptives and devices that reduce the risk of transmitting a sexually transmitted disease and reduces the chance of pregnancy occurring. There are many different ways to reduce the chances of transmitting a STD and protecting yourself from catching one: condoms, gloves and dental dams are just a few, however there are other preventative measures you could take such as getting yourself tested for STD’s, asking your partner if they have been tested, and then actually treating an STD if you have one.
After looking at the stats, it’s pretty clear that STD’s are more common than you’d think, with 1 in 5 people being infected with one. Generally women have a greater chance of being infected by a man (60%-90% chance), while a mans chance of being infected by a woman is much lower (20% chance).
STD’s are actually really easy to treat if caught early enough and treated as soon as you are aware that you have one. The most common STD’s such as Chlamydia, Gonorrhea and Syphilis, are all actually curable within a week by taking some antibiotics or getting a penicillin injection.
However there is this stigma around STD’s that makes people feel shame, embarrassed, cheap and dirty. Thus they don't want to go to the doctor for fear of being judged and they just live with the STD, which is not such a good move. Yes, it’s not good that you have an STD, but don’t be stupid, STD’s can be very dangerous if left untreated and could prove to be rather detrimental to your health. So you’ve now got an STD, the only way to not have STD is to get treated and deal with it. It’s really not as hard as everyone thinks it is to get treated, you could be STD free in a week with the correct treatment.
Main concept development
Mood board for concept presented below
For the campaign you'll see below, the golden thread was “treat yourself for the STD you have” and to emphasize how easy it is to get treated. Getting treated is actually generally really easy, you go to the doctor they see you have an STD, they will either give you antibiotics, antiviral drugs, cream or procedures to freeze certain things off if you have them and maybe an injection or two to jump start the treatment process. Its that easy you’ll have to either take pills for a few weeks and/or apply some cream and get an injection. The hashtag created for this campaign “#Treatyoself” was inspired by the series, ‘Parks and Recreation’. In one of the episodes they have a day where they treat themselves to all sorts of things including spa treatments, coffee and cake, etc. This then played into the concept for the campaign through the idea of treating yourself for the STD you have, but making it seem like a more luxurious and pleasurable experience. It plays on the idea of treating yourself to all your guilty pleasures, whether that be delicious food such as doughnuts, a spa day, sexual pleasures or just buying yourself some new clothes, and then getting treated for your STD.
All deliverables will contain a QR code or link. This code or link will take you to Mayo Clinics webpage on STD treatments that are available, here is the link to the web page: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sexually-transmitted-diseases-stds/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20351246
Visual development
I want to have very clean, simple and easy to read/understand photos and compositions to emphasize the easiness of getting treatment. I also want there to be some suggestion of sexual activities as that's how a person generally gets an STD but I don't want the person viewing the poster to feel shame which is why I want to include everyday objects and other guilty pleasures such as food and pampering ones self. I think I should maybe include a humorous element to make it a less stigmatized thing.
Existing STD treatment adverts and campaigns are quite serious. I don't wanna say boring but they are more professional than what I'd like to have in my poster. Most of them also don’t use photography so I think the use of photography will help make the poster different from what's out there already.
Some initial concepts for the campaign
Photography experimentation
Layout and type exploration.
I went through quite the process when trying to figure out what my visual style, colour palette, and photographs should contain thus I had a lot of process work but this is just a sneak peek into the large amount that I explored.
Now for the campaign
The poster, its intention is to impersonate a woman wearing a mini skirt whose not necessarily embarrassed but a woman who is trying not to flash anyone because of how short her skirt is, she is also alluding to the idea of being sexy but not in an obvious way.
WeTransfer background keyframes.
WeTransfer background animation
Third deliverable: The Shopping experience was inspired by the idea of treating yourself to a shopping spree; basically focusing on retail therapy. All the designs will revolve around the shopping experience and what one would see when in a mall. This will include clothes hanger adverts, fitting-room mirror stickers, shopping bag adverts and tag adverts.
Mock ups
