A German safer sex campaign featuring images of Hitler has been condemned as stigmatising and ill-conceived following its launch online last week.
The advert, sponsored by a German non-governmental organisation called Regenbogen e.v and developed in collaboration with Hamburg advertising agency, das comitee, is part of a campaign developed for World AIDS Day called 'AIDS is a mass murder'.
The campaign, which will include adverts after 9pm on German television, as well as print advertising, uses images of dictators notorious for mass murder to convey the message that AIDS has claimed millions of lives.
The TV advert features a couple undressing and having sex in a bedroom; as the scene develops the camera begins to concentrate on the male figure, before revealing that the figure has the face of Hitler. The final frame reveals the message 'AIDS is a mass murderer'.
Accompanying poster campaigns include images of Hitler, Stalin and Saddam Hussein, each engaged in sex with a woman, each bearing the slogan 'AIDS is a mass murderer'.
The originators of the campaign say they are trying to highlight the continuing high number of deaths from AIDS, and lack of condom use.
“A lot of people are not aware that Aids is still murdering many people every day. They wanted a campaign which told young people that it is still a threat,” said Hans Weishäupl, creative director of das comittee, told The Daily Telegraph.
"In Germany, Hitler is the ugliest face you can use to show evil," he went on.
“I think the advert is incredibly stigmatising to people living with HIV who already face much stigma and discrimination due to ignorance about the virus," a spokesperson for the National AIDS Trust told The Daily Telegraph.
“Anything that could increase stigmatisation and discourage [people] from coming forward to be tested isn't helpful. The dangerous thing about it [the advert] is there doesn't appear to be any accompanying public health message as far as encouraging people to stay safe and use condoms,” said Vicky Sheard of the Terrence Higgins Trust.
Regenbogen e.v is a regional non-governmental organisation based in Bavaria and funded by the district of Upper Bavaria, as well as by charitable bodies such as Rotary International and the Munich-Keferloh Lions Club .