One Mind Opened, One Heart Touched, One Life Changed

In 2004, Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center received an 18-month grant though the Academy of Education Development's HIV/AIDS Anti-Stigma Initative. With the announcement of same-sex marriage in San Francisco in 2004, galvanizing the Chinese community in opposition. This long silenced stigma so deeply entrenched in the community now vocalized called A&PI Wellness Center to action. Through this call to action, A&PI Wellness Center developed the "One Mind Opened" campaign targeted specifically to the Chinese community in the Bay Area.

The Campaign: A Three-Prong Approach

A&PI Wellness Center launched a three-fold campaign strategy. Step one included media outreach to increase awareness of HIV-related stigma and discrimination in the Chinese community. Working with both mainstream and ethnic media, A&PI Wellness Center was able to spread the message about HIV in the target communities. Additionally, the campaign was highlighted in radio and newspaper interviews in the Asian and LGBTQ markets. Outreach was also conducted at the 2004 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, the HIV Leadership Prevention Conference, and through meetings with community leaders and elected officials.

The second prong of the campaign was to measure levels of stigma in the community. Over the course of three months, a survey was developed to assess stigma in the Chinese community. In November 2004, A&PI Wellness Center conducted street-intercept surveys in San Francisco's Chinatown, as well as two focus groups with members of the Chinese community. While most stigma indicators suggested a moderate to low level of stigma within the community, some other indicators were higher.

Download a PDF copy of this poster here.

Based on these indicators, A&PI Wellness Center worked with a media consultant to develop the social marketing aspect of the campaign. The consultant was able to work with Chinese ethnic media sources to help disseminate the campaign, but more importantly, they had the capacity to develop the campaign in Chinese. This was the third prong of our three-part strategy.

The social marketing plan included six "advertorials," or stories that are ads, each telling a different story based on the attitudes indicated in the street-intercept surveys and focus groups. Each of the advertorials would also have an educational aspect by including facts about HIV. The six advertorials ran consecutively in the four major Chinese newspapers in San Francisco. At the end of the ad run, the stories were compiled into a booklet that was inserted into two of the most popular papers. The booklets also included information on where to call for Chinese language information and HIV testing.

From the Bay Area Reporter, vol. 35, no. 20, May 19, 2005

To kick off the campaign, the six characters from the advertorials and booklet were featured on posters in ten bus shelters, strategically placed at transfer points in San Francisco most used by the Chinese community. A public service announcement was also developed by KTSF-26, San Francisco's most popular Asian language television station. A press conference was also held to announce the campaign, with many of the major Asian news outlets from the San Francisco Bay Area in attendance. As a result of this campaign, the San Francisco Department of Public Health reported an increase of HIV testing amongst its sites. Additionally, a special phone number set up at A&PI Wellness Center for people to call with questions received five phone calls, two of which were referred to our internal testing service. In particular these two people had experienced something similar to two of the stories featured in the advertorial series.

More information

This formative campaign was the springboard for two additional campaigns, TalkAIDS and the Banyan Tree Project. Please see the related links along the right hand side of this page to find data related to this social marketing campaign, as well as a link to download the poster featured in the bus shelters.

Want to develop an anti-stigma campaign in your community?

We can help with that! Our capacity building assistance (CBA) program can help tailor our anti-stigma campaign to meet your unique challenges. We can help you with program design, event planning and media relations to get your message out. Please visit our CBA page to find out more information and to place your request or contact Bhupendra Sheoran at (415) 292-3400 x 365 or at sheoran@apiwellness.org.