Provocative Ad Campaign in San Francisco Talks Tough to Gay Men About Crystal Methamphetamine Use and HIV

The San Francisco Department of Public Health’s HIV Prevention Program last week launched a new media campaign aimed at confronting the city’s gay population about the alarming increase in HIV infections associated with the use of crystal meth (methamphetamine).

Embraced by users for its ability to produce a euphoric sense of invincibility, crystal meth use has become endemic in the gay community in recent years. The high-risk sexual behavior that frequently accompanies crystal meth use is blamed for an increase in HIV infection rates in San Francisco. The new media campaign points out that gay men who use crystal are 400% more likely to become infected with HIV than the overall gay community.

Crystal Mess

Click to view the campaign’s subway and bus posters in PDF format.

The campaign, created by Templin Brink Design and photographed by San Francisco photographer Sven Wiederholt, is comprised of targeted outdoor advertising (bus shelters, billboards) and guerilla marketing techniques focused on the Castro and South of Market districts of the City.

Headlined "Crystal Mess", the campaign features images of diverse users tweaking, crashing, and engaging in high-risk behavior to illustrate the negative consequences of using the drug. The campaign adopts a frank, abrupt tone and speaks in the language of its targeted underground audience with headlines such as, “Crystal plays more tricks than you can,”  “Hot? Not,” and “You’re in for a bumpy ride.”

San Francisco City officials hope the startling images and in-your-face headlines will promote discussions about this often unspoken and dangerous problem among San Francisco’s gay community, and shed light on the damaging effects the drug has on users. A good deal of the appeal of crystal meth, apart from inducing a euphoric high, stems from the long duration of the drug’s effects and its low cost.

The campaign includes direct links to substance abuse information and services offered by the City of San Francisco and partner community agencies.

The campaign, which runs through November 21, was strategically launched to coincide with San Francisco’s annual Castro Street Halloween celebration.

A similar media campaign was conducted in New York City, where crystal meth use also has reached epidemic proportions among gay men. That campaign has been both praised and criticized by gay men and other commentators.

Regardless of what one thinks of the confrontational tone of the images and text messages, no one is denying that crystal meth use has ravaged the lives of many gay men and is at least partially responsible for the dramatic increase in unsafe sexual practices among urban gay men in recent years.

Crystal meth is highly addicting and is difficult to give up. “Coming down” from the causes extremely unpleasant side effects, including deep depression, paranoia, feelings of isolation and estrangement from society and friends. Some researchers have determined that use of crystal meth can cause permanent brain damage to frequent users, in addition to serious psychological problems.