Dick & Jane grow up in new YDE campaign

The initiative for the campaign was the brain child of YDE founder and CEO Paul Simon, who instructed the in-house creative team of YDE to implement an AIDS awareness campaign to coincide with World Aids Day on the 1st of December.

"AIDS has never been - and will never be - an easy subject to communicate to an audience. We were looking for an educational idea, but one which wouldn't come across as patronising. Since our message to wear a condom is simple in nature, it made sense to present it in a way that was as rudimentary as step one of learning to read," says Sam Coleman, Creative Director of YDE.

He says that Dick & Jane, the iconic figures from the 1950's, were perfect to incorporate within the campaign as they've long been synonymous with learning and a wholesome lifestyle.

This resulted in the YDE Let's Learn Safe Sex campaign where YDE shop windows and in-store posters will feature scenarios where sex is happening and a reality, but characters Dick & Jane only advocate it if they have a condom. Examples of copy included: "Dick likes Jane. Jane likes Dick. Dick has no condom. See Jane run." Others versions of the posters will introduce uniquely South Africa versions with Sipho and Thandi.

"Sex without a condom is always a temptation to young people. We want to underline that other than abstinence condoms are the only real way of protecting oneself against AIDS. Realistically speaking, abstinence is not going to catch on in a big way. So if people are going to do it, they should be safe," says Coleman.

Copywriter for the campaign, Ian Malone, agrees with Coleman and says that "condoms are normally not seen as 'cool', but hopefully the YDE campaign will go some way towards changing that."

The style and execution of the creative is disarming. Implementation included using colours with muted pastel tones, a simplistic copy, but with a very strong message that identifies with the target audience.

To ensure an emotional and nostalgic connection with consumers, the help of 1960's advertising illustrator and artist Tony Butler was called in, now retired for almost 20 years. Butler is famously known for his billboard illustrations during the 1950's era of advertising when photography as a medium wasn't widely used.

"Everybody will tell you that anything can be done on computers these days. But since the outcome we wanted was authenticity, having the original paintings done was the only way to go. We captured the right mood and lighting initially, shooting on film with Sarah Nankin. The paintings were done by Butler using the photography as reference," says Coleman.

Over and above posters, special Dick & Jane condom packs will also be available at point of sales, including revision cards, familiar red AIDS ribbons and statistics about AIDS. The YDE website www.yde.co.za features an interactive version of the instore pack that has been specially developed in conjunction with Hello Computer.

"The impact of the campaign relies heavily on evoking a feeling of recognition and nostalgia in those who see it, before driving home a truly unexpected message. I couldn't be happier with the end result that our in-house team produced and I believe that YDE is truly communicating with an audience that think they're impervious to the unforeseen, whatever it may be," says Paul Simon.

The YDE Dick & Jane campaign will run until the end of January 2006.

Previous AIDS awareness initiatives from YDE included the "Wear Rubber" campaign from 2004, with proceeds of sales from 20 000 bands donated to the TAC.