HPB warns about striking ‘4D’ with AIDS

Singapore - Health Promotion Board introduced a mass-media advertising campaign titled ‘4D' targeted at blue-collared workers to tackle complacency against AIDS, which will run for the next six months.

Aided with research findings on blue-collared workers' risk-taking mentality as seen by the popularity of 4D, Toto and horse-racing, the campaign line ‘AIDS. Every gamble is a chance to strike' was developed to grab the attention of the hard-to-persuade target audience who may have grown accustomed to the usual health messages and warnings about AIDS.

The advertisements were crafted to imitate the typical 4D announcements on these media and drive the campaign message across. A TVC featuring a 4D announcer will be aired in selected cinemas. Media that announce 4D results were also chosen for ad placements - Capital 95.8fm's time-belts before actual 4D radio announcements as well as usual 4D result positions on Lianhe Wanbao and Shin Min newspapers.

DDB was responsible for the conceptualisation and execution of the campaign while its media partner PHD handled media planning.

HPB has previously launched an AIDS prevention campaign targeted at youths and will roll out another one targeted at PMEBs males this year.