New Delhi, Jan 08: The C in the anti-AIDS campaign shouldn’t stand for condoms, Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj has decreed. She has pulled up DD for airing TV spots the national broadcaster developed in coordination with the BBC World Service Trust, Prasar Bharati Corporation and National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) on the ground that the ads encouraged sex rather than discouraged the spread of AIDS. Seven spots were created for television, of which three were shot down by the ministry. Four spots are still being aired — in one, a father advises his son to use a condom; in another, a paanwala offers condoms instead of small change.


A delegation from a woman’s group called the Joint Action Front for Women met with Swaraj on Tuesday, and she is said to have told them that DD has been asked to review its campaign.
Ranjana Kumari, the women’s group coordinator, said, ‘‘The minister has asked Doordarshan for an explanation and has asked the people involved in creating the campaign to develop spots that not are condom-centric.’’

Concerned that the ads ‘‘enabled’’ men and kept women out of the picture, Kumari said that NACO should reorient its objective. ‘‘The condom is not a prescription for AIDS, neither is it meant to empower men alone. This is not about latex contact. The issue should be tackled in a sensitive manner.’’
NACO’s project director Meenakshi Ghosh said that the TV campaign had been conceived in phases, and that she had written to the Prasar Bharati Corporation to drop the spots if they considered them objectionable.
Doordarshan had even conceived a serial Jasoos Vijay, to tackle the AIDS issue in a fictional format. Nobody has objected to the serial so far.