AHF Tells 3 More Major Cities To Protect Their Bananas
December 14, 2023
Just Use It! – Trust Your Audience and Run the Creative
By Amber Larkins, OOH Today Writer
AHF’s Just Use It!, a campaign that sparked OOH controversy in September of this year makes headlines again as the campaign launched this week in New York, Miami, and Chicago.
The advertisement which has brilliant use of creative features a condom-clad banana banana and the phrase “Just Use It!”, parodying Nike’s tagline and logo.
“A condom is a powerful visual that is going to elicit a response of some sort. From a design point of view it was almost perfect,” Rick Robinson, CEO of PJX Media said. It has three elements, one idea, used humor and high contrast to attract impressions.
The first time around, AHF tried their campaign with the “Big 3” and were denied entry to their boards.
“All three of the largest billboard media companies in the US turned down our artwork. Luckily, the independent vendors that stepped up and were unafraid to run our controversial message saved us,” Jason Farmer, Vice President of Marketing at AHF said. “Rick Robinson and the PJX team did a wonderful job of finding the units and getting our artwork approved by the owners.
The second time around, they weren’t even going to bother with the big players. AHF and the PJX team went straight to the independent vendors and were met with approvals and success.
AHF is a significant investor in OOH and has an important mission. The team didn’t want to risk having to change course. They ensured that the independent vendors and their property owners had seen the ad and given their consent for it to be run. The “little guys” were happy to have a share of their advertising dollars and don’t usually get this opportunity
“From my view, independent operators are more risk-friendly. They trust the public more,” Robinson said. “They will go the extra mile to get the business.”
The campaign has generated millions of impressions, reminding people to practice safer sex. None of this would have happened if AHF had given up when the larger OOH companies said no to the campaign.
“It has, once again, opened our eyes to the censorship of the top three largest billboard companies when it comes to tackling safer sex messaging and other controversial topics around sexual health in an era when STD rates are at an all-time high and education being attacked and defunded across the country,” Farmer said. “We will continue to use this strategy if they will not accept our future messaging.”
There are no plans yet to place this campaign in additional cities, but Farmer says he would like to share the messages in more conservative places where AHF has services and where outdoor media owners will accept the artwork. The advertised website useacondom.com has resources for finding STI testing and treatment services which can be helpful in places where discussion of sexual topics is more taboo and where funding and resources for treatment is limited.
What does this mean for the industry and independent operators as a whole? Robinson says that advertisers with more sensitive messaging and creative may find better luck with independent vendors and wants vendors to keep an open mind.
“When you are open-minded opportunities come,” Robinson said. “It creates opportunity for our industry by being flexible and eager by nature. Independents get some love and feel good about it and are more willing to do it again.”
Advice to vendors considering controversial creative: Give your consent and just use it.
