Indonesian AIDS TVC pulled after Muslims protest

JAKARTA: Indonesia has banned two of the five TV commercials created for an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign after Muslim groups complained that the ads inadvertently promoted extra-marital sex by showing young men at a red light district.

The Family Health International campaign by Leo Burnett Kreasindo features a graphic portrayal of prostitution. Burnett's group account director, Sulo Chanapuri, said this was necessary because "if we had white-washed the facts then the men who "part-take in this high risk behaviour wouldn't take the campaign seriously".

The first banned spot shows the men eyeing prostitutes before one goes inside a bedroom for some unprotected sex. The second shows the two men out the next night but this time they are seen buying condoms before entering a brothel. Chanapuri said the agency was re-editing the second spot to get it back on air, but doubted that the first TVC would pass the censors.