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Stigma
German magazine prints cover with ink infused with HIV-positive blood
The blood has been pasteurised to neutralise the virus so it poses no threat.
A GERMAN MAGAZINE has printed a cover that is infused with ink containing HIV-positive blood to draw attention to the virus and challenge the stigmas attached to it.
Just 3,000 copies of the special edition have been printed. To print the cover, three people living with HIV donated their blood and this was then pasteurised to neutralise the virus, making it incapable of transmission.
From there it was mixed in with an ink solution to use in the printing process.
Executive Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Switzerland, Jason Romeyko, who helped create the cover, told CBS news he hopes the magazine will “reignite” conversations about the virus.
“We wanted people to actually hold the magazine and just make the comparison — there’s nothing wrong with holding someone who’s HIV positive.”
Inside the issue are a number of articles about ‘HIV heroes’ who speak about the stigma of the disease.
The opening pages of the magazine have an editorial by its publisher and CEO Julian Wiehl who writes:
“If you’re holding the ‘infected’ print edition in your hands right now, you’ll get into contact with HIV like never before….It will make you reflect on HIV and you will think differently afterward. Because now the issue is in your hands.”
This magazine will be available online for free from next week with editors asking readers to make a donation to a HIV foundation. It will also be for sale on news stands in Germany.
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