TV actors push USAID campaign

The international organisation USAID (United States Agency for International Development) and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) have roped in television's star couples for their campaign to popularise condoms.

The first commercial features film and television actor Rohit Roy and his wife Manasi. The two are involved in a banter where Manasi calls her husband a coward for not letting her try out adventure sports like river rafting or rock climbing.

It's his loaded reply "I don't because I care for you," that actually leads viewers to the message of the commercial: joh khayal rakhte hai woh jante hain yahi hai sahi (those who care know this is right).

This is the second TV commercial in the USAID's much publicised theme campaign launched earlier. The Rohit-Manasi Roy TVC will soon be followed by another ad featuring celebrity actor couple "" Rajeshwari and Varun Badola. The duo will higlight the importance of condoms not just for AIDS prevention but for unwanted pregnancies as well.

Created by Lowe Lintas, the three TVCs are part of the USAID funded and ICICI-managed four-year programme launched to promote consistent and correct use of high quality condoms.

"Through the campaign we have tried to emphasise that only caring men use condoms. And we thought it would be a good idea to use real life celebrity couples to convey the message," says Varsha Chhabra, strategy planner, Lowe, Mumbai.

The campaign does not advertise any specific brand but promotes the entire category. It is targeted at sexually active men aged 20-45 in urban areas of north Indian states such as - Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand.

Condom use is reported to be on a decline in the north Indian states "as there's a lot of stigma attached to it," points out Sashwati Banerjee, programme director, PSP-One India, the private technical partner of USAID which monitors the implementation of the campaign in India.

Interestingly, awareness about condoms is high but their use remains as low as 3.1 per cent nationally despite efforts by both the public and the private sector, adds Banerjee.

The organisation claims to be spending Rs 3.5 crore on media. Besides the TVCs, the organisation is involved in on-ground activities like organising game shows "" for couples and circulating information vans in different cities.