There are over six billion people on this planet. That’s six billion opinions, thoughts for and against. Against Palestine. Against Israel. Wagers in the war against terror. Think then, what will we wage in the war against HIV?

We are moved in so many different ways. We are angered quickly. We choose to fight before we choose to hug. If we could be moved to be more involved, we might be getting somewhere. Isn’t storytelling the easiest way to spread the word and be understood? Pictures are not limited to languages or translations, and although they may paint preconceived notions of with whom and where this disease exists, they certainly get the message across.

At the 57th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, Ogilvy Johannesburg won South Africa’s first Gold Film Lion in 11 years for The Topsy Foundation; a spot produced by Egg Films in Cape Town. Many people opened their hearts to take this story from concept to completion. Many people gave of their time. Some may have confronted their fears. One person bore her soul. In a world where Susan Boyle, Lady Gaga and Avril Lavigne break records on YouTube with hundreds of millions of hits, we sit with less than a collective 25 000 views globally of an 85-second Public Service Announcement that has only one message you should really want to know: The effects of AIDS can be reversed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6zCNdEfm5w