The Three Amigos

The Three Amigos

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New AIDS campaign uses animated characters

By EDITH M. LEDERER

ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

UNITED NATIONS -- A new global campaign to stop the spread of AIDS uses three animated characters dressed as condoms who deliver a serious message in humorous public service spots in 41 languages: If you're going to have sex, use a condom.

The short spots are being offered free to broadcasters, community groups and universities and have the potential of reaching 80 percent of the world's population, Canadian producer-director Firdaus Kharas said Tuesday.

"We're using humor to stop the spread of AIDS," he told a news conference launching the public service announcements, which are targeted at people aged 15 to 24 in countries threatened by the epidemic including India, China, Russia, the Caribbean and central Asia.

"The Three Amigos" - as the cartoon condoms named Shaft, Stretch and Dick are called - are pictured in a variety of settings from a spaceship to a soccer field to a casino. Twenty different spots are available in each of the 41 languages varying from 20 to 60 seconds in length. Some spots are blatantly sexual, others more restrained.

The punch line in the spaceship spot says: "No condom, No blastoff. Stop the spread of AIDS." The soccer spot says: "You just can't score without a condom." And the spot focusing on a roulette wheel in a casino says: "Not all gamblers realize the odds stacked against them. Don't gamble with your life. Use a condom. Stop the spread of AIDS."

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Kharas said the idea for the spots came from his co-producer, South African film writer Brent Quint, who believes that AIDS is "a preventable disease," and that using animated figures and humor can get across the message that condoms are essential for safe sex.

The spots are currently being shown in South Africa, Canada and the Netherlands and have already won 25 international awards and a strong endorsement from South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who called them "a powerful communicating tool to encourage people to change their behavior."

Frequent playing of the spots "has the potential to capture the imagination of young people through humor, the portrayal of situations to which they can easily relate and the portrayal of characters who express what in a normal situation would be too embarrassing to speak of," he said.

Asked how the spots had been received in the United States, where the Bush administration is promoting abstinence rather than condom use, Kharas said arguing about abstinence vs. condoms "is sterile" because 5.3 million people got the HIV virus last year.

"I think we need to do everything possible" to prevent the spread of AIDS, he said.

Kharas said the United States isn't a primary target for the campaign though spots have already been requested by a number of universities.

He said some countries have been "touchy" about the spots, but he insisted that everyone should be able to find several that are acceptable. He noted that in South Africa, which has large Hindu and Muslim minorities, only two complaints had been received.

"The Three Amigos" was conceived and written in South Africa. The characters, props and layouts were designed and created in Canada, and the background and animation was done in India, Kharas said. More than 320 people volunteered to support the project.