LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A recent advertisement has some members of the LGBTQ plus community saying it is sending the wrong message. KTNV's Abel Garcia found out what's being done to change it.
When he received this screenshot of a Southern Nevada Health District advertisement Brady McGill, president of the Southern Nevada Association of Pride, was concerned.
"It did strike me as a cheap shot and just a really poorly thought-out marketing strategy."
Over the phone, spokesperson Jennifer Sizemore with SNHD says the agency recently approved and posted this monkey pox prevention advertisement. Its target audience: men who have sex with men.
This demographic currently has the highest number of cases in Clark County as of Wednesday there are 166.
The advertisement uses what Sizemore describes as an intentionally "provocative" photo of a shirtless man posing in underwear. Sizemore says the marketing intent was to draw the attention of gay men to the monkeypox threat.
McGill says he was contacted by several gay community members about the ad.
He says advertisements like this open the door for stigmas and generalizations about the gay community.
"It doesn't do much to really reach anybody and it doesn't have any positive messaging for the conversation moving forward and in fact it could cause harm when people use that reductive reasoning to stigmatize our community."
McGill says SNHD has posted other ads he believes have been more effective. He disagrees with using SEX APPEAL when it comes to marketing about a virus like monkey pox.....
Sizemore says the advertisement appeared on both Instagram and a gay dating app. She says it was up one day and removed after two complaints were received Sizemore told Channel 13 the health district felt the ad might be doing more harm than good.
Sizemore also says "The ad in question ran for a limited amount of time to a very limited audience and we are now going in a different direction."
Epidemiologist and assistant professor at UNLV Dr. Brian Labus says the effectiveness of health protection advertisements can depend on the audience.
In the valley, 98% of monkeypox cases are men who contracted it from other men.
"If it is something you are using with a very specific group of people you are targeting them, you are not using it throughout the entire population then it makes sense it's comparable to other ads you would see in that community."
While McGill believes the information is critical to protecting against monkeypox, he's happy the ad has been removed.
"An ad that reduces any kind of community or messaging about health care to sex is probably not serving the purpose it was intended for."
SNHD SAYS they are planning a new approach with their advertising about the monkeypox virus.
