ViiV grows HIV prevention campaign with new influencers, including actor Taye Diggs

ViiV Healthcare is doubling down on the message that HIV prevention involves everyone. Young or old, infected or not — its “Me in You, You in Me” campaign creates honest conversations between strangers to help spur more discussion amongst all people.

The effort launched last year with the premise that two people meet anonymously on the phone and then later in person with ViiV filming the meet-and-greet. The new pairs for this year are actor and author Taye Diggs, who meets actor and choreographer Nicco Annan; dancer and actress Tinashe, who meets with rapper and artist Villano Antillano; and social media influencer and model Nicky Champa, who meets actor Rafael De La Fuente.

Marc Meachem

“There’s still a silence around HIV, which is a manifestation of the stigma,” said Marc Meachem, US head of external affairs at ViiV, which is GSK’s dedicated HIV treatments company. “One part of this is to have more open and more meaningful conversations. The second thing is to make people aware of the local resources that are available.”

The campaign is national, but also includes local outreach with advocacy groups in bars and clubs, barber shops, coffee shops and churches, and a focus on four cities — Dallas, Atlanta, Miami and, newly added this year, New Orleans. Another pair of influencers in each city will help drive the local conversations and work which will include HIV Testing Day (June 27) events, scavenger hunts, meet and greets and sex positive or drag show parties.

New Orleans was added in part because statistics show that 19% of new HIV cases are diagnosed late as AIDS initially or within three months of an HIV diagnosis.

While the “Me in You, You in Me” campaign has been running along with other ViiV awareness and branded product work, HIV prevention and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) awareness is still lagging.

“When you look at the statistics of less than a quarter of the most affected populations not accessing PrEP and at a lower level of awareness, we haven’t moved as a society enough on it,” Meachem said.

The one-quarter of Black and Latino people who are taking advantage of PrEP stands in stark contrast to the three-quarters of the white population who could benefit and are taking it. “Those are the kind of real world outcomes we’re looking to shift and shape,” Meachem added, “by starting the conversation in places where it’s not happening, and broadening the conversation.”

healthcare
aids