Latest news with #destigmatisation
BBC News
25-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
'Best place to have herpes': New Zealand advert wins top prize
New Zealand Herpes Foundation "To fix our national pride, the solution is obvious: herpes." That was the pitch made by the charity New Zealand Herpes Foundation last October, when it launched a campaign to make the country the "best place" to have the infection. That campaign has been a roaring success, winning a top prize at this year's Cannes Lions awards, which recognise excellence in the creative industry. The campaign, which aimed to destigmatise herpes via a faux tourism advertisement video, was awarded the Grand Prix for Good - a category that seeks to highlight work by non-profit organisations and charities. The video starred Sir Graham Henry, the former head coach of the national rugby union team. In it, he touted the past successes of New Zealand and lamented its diminishing sources of national pride - such as an "embarrassingly low" sheep-to-human ratio and pies that are "pushing seven bucks". "We need something new to be proud of; something big and brave to put us back on the map," Mr Henry said as he scrawled the word "HERPES" - in all caps - on a chalk board. "It's time for New Zealand to become the best place in the world to have herpes." What followed was another old-school video packaged as a "herpes destigmatisation course", featuring other national icons like former health ministry chief Sir Ashley Bloomfield and professional boxer Mea Motu. The irreverent humour running through the campaign - which was developed with agencies Motion Sickness and FINCH - has struck a chord with audiences. "Forget doom and gloom, there's enough of that already to go around," said David Ohana, communications chief at the United Nations Foundation and a jury president at this year's Cannes Lions. "Our 2025 awardee took a taboo topic and turned it on its head – showing that with a great strategy, a big, bold, crazy idea … and humour for days, that anything is possible." Around one in three sexually active adults in New Zealand has the virus that causes genital herpes, though most have mild or no symptoms and can lead ordinary lives, according to the New Zealand Herpes Foundation. "Popular media, misinformation, and New Zealanders' awkwardness talking about sex - has led to huge stigmatisation for those living normal lives with the virus," reads a press release from when the campaign was launched last October. Alaina Luxmoore, from the New Zealand Herpes Foundation, told local TV programme Breakfast that millions had seen the campaign, which had "massive cut-through". "The campaign was so funny, I think that's why it worked," Luxmore said. New Zealand
The Guardian
24-06-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
New Zealand ad campaign to make country ‘best place in the world to have herpes' wins top prize at Cannes Lions
A public health advertisement that campaigned to make New Zealand 'the best place in the world to have herpes' has won a top prize at the Cannes Lions – one of world's most prestigious advertising awards. The campaign, launched by the New Zealand Herpes Foundation in October last year, attempts to challenge decades of entrenched stigma around genital herpes – a condition that affects up to 80% of New Zealanders at some point in their lives, the foundation said. The cheeky take on a retro-style tourism video features former All Blacks coach Sir Graham Henry lamenting the loss of New Zealand's clout on the international stage – the sheep to human ratio is 'embarrassingly low', pies are 'pushing seven bucks' and the country's pride is 'less than outstanding', he opines. 'We need something new to be proud of, something big and brave to put us back on the map – it's time for New Zealand to become the best place in the world to have herpes,' Henry says. The promotional video is followed by a 'Herpes Destigmatisation Course', fronted by prominent New Zealanders such as former director-general of health Sir Ashley Bloomfield, former All Black Sir Buck Shelford and boxer Mea Motu. The campaign – developed alongside Auckland-based agency Motion Sickness and Sydney agency FINCH – was awarded the Lions health and UN foundation grand prix for good, for 'unabashedly [using] humour to tackle a challenging subject and stigmatisation'. 'Our 2025 awardee took a taboo topic and turned it on its head – showing that with a great strategy, a big, bold crazy idea, and humour for days, that anything is possible,' said David Ohana, Cannes Lions jury president. Claire Hurst, one of the foundation's founding trustees, told the Guardian herpes is mostly medically insignificant but that 'a lifetime of societal conditioning' around the word 'herpes' makes coping with a diagnosis difficult for many. Never in her 30 years of doing this work has a campaign to destigmatise the infection had such cut-through, Hurst said. 'As soon as you just put it out there, and people can just say 'you see, it's cold sores' and 'yeah, a lot of us have them and most of us don't know', then it stops being the big bogey man.'
