Hear No Evil? See No Evil? Speak No Evil?

ALDO, a global fashion footwear and accessories brand and retailer, and YouthAIDS, an HIV/AIDS education and prevention initiative, have partnered to create an international fundraising and awareness campaign to educate and prevent HIV/AIDS among teenagers and young adults. ALDO turned to KraftWorks, their longtime agency, with the mandate to create a powerful campaign to launch the initiative. The “Hear No Evil? See No Evil? Speak No Evil? campaign will launch in 20 cities outdoor in August and in September issues of fashion and lifestyle magazines in the US, Canada and UK. The campaign will run throughout the fall season, and in-store at ALDO venues worldwide.

Renowned fashion photographer, Peter Lindbergh, shot the arresting black and white images of Salma Hayek, Ashley Judd, Penelope Cruz, Elijah Wood, Cindy Crawford, Josh Lucas, Christina Aguilera and LL Cool J, each depicted with duct tape across their mouth or eyes, or with their hands covering their ears.

“ALDO came to us with the challenge to develop a campaign that would stop people in their tracks, something unexpected and powerful for their new ‘ALDO Fights AIDS’ effort,” said Neil Kraft, agency president and executive creative director. “The fact is that AIDS is still a huge crisis, even though people may have gotten complacent about it, and it has moved off the media’s radar. The visualization of the proverb See No Evil? Hear No Evil? Speak No Evil? led to the duct tape idea. But the big question was whether any celebrity would actually agree to conceal their distinguishing facial characteristics for an ad campaign. It’s a testament to the power of YouthAIDS and the campaign itself that they all agreed. Working with Peter Lindbergh immediately put the celebrities at ease, and if anyone can get a star to cover his or her mouth or eyes with duct tape, it’s Peter.”

Robert Hoppenheim, General Manager, Branding and Strategic Development for ALDO commented, “Our objective was to create a contemporary and compelling fundraising and communications effort to fight HIV/AIDS around the world. The provocative shots of celebrities are intended to elicit a “stop and notice” response, one that we hope will capture the attention of those most at risk for HIV/AIDS, young people ages 15-24. The campaign is the cornerstone of the ALDO Fights AIDS awareness effort and the sale of the “empowerment tags” is the key fundraising element.”

ALDO has partnered with YouthAIDS to spread the message of HIV prevention. This international advertising campaign, ‘ALDO Fights AIDS’, is designed to attack ignorance surrounding HIV /AIDS and confront the complacency of the spread of AIDS. For two decades, ALDO has been an active supporter in the fight against AIDS and has committed millions of dollars to AIDS awareness and research organizations, including CanfAR in Canada, AmfAR in the US, in addition to other organizations and hospitals.

Kate Roberts, founder and director of YouthAIDS said, “This unique fundraising and awareness campaign has the power to change the course of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. I applaud KraftWorks and ALDO for creating and supporting this brave and historical campaign. The ads are a stunning combination of eye-catching visuals with shocking statistics reflecting the world’s HIV/AIDS pandemic.

“Each celebrity is photographed wearing “empowerment tags” — a pair of dog tags, one engraved with an AIDS ribbon and one engraved with a call to action message of “Hear” “See” or “Speak”. The tags will be sold for $5 at ALDO stores worldwide and on the web at http://www.youthaids-aldo.org, with 100% of the net proceeds benefiting YouthAIDS. Funds raised from the sales of the empowerment tags will enable YouthAIDS to educate and protect young people in more than 60 countries.

In addition to “traffic stopping visuals”, the words used in the campaign are equally powerful combinations of facts and a call to action:

* AIDS kills one child every minute
— When truth spreads, AIDS won’t

* 3 million people died of AIDS last year
— Spread the word, not the disease

* Most of those infected with HIV don’t know it
— When truth spreads, AIDS won’t

* 14,000 people contract HIV every day
— Spread the word, not the disease

Kraft said, “We want the campaign to get people to stop and read the message. Seeing a giant billboard of Salma Hayek with duct tape across her mouth with the tag line “Speak No Evil?” or LL Cool J with his hands covering ears next to “Hear No Evil?” is guaranteed to have an impact.” The campaign will launch in August using high impact out of home advertising in major markets including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Montreal, Toronto and London. It will appear in the leading fashion and lifestyle magazines and on the web, throughout the fall season.

For more information at http://www.youthaids.org