Marketing the Damaged Self: The Construction of Identity in Advertisements Directed Towards People with HIV/AIDS

Journal oJ MClOlIngulstlcs 1/3,1997: 393-418 Marketing the damaged self: The construction of identity in advertisements directed towards ," people with HIV/ AIDS Rodney H. Jones City University of Hong Kong ABSTRACf This paper explores the identities projected in advertisements directed towards HIV positive Individuals anll people with AIDS. Fifty such advertisements were collected from three popular American magazines for gay men over a period of seven months. Analysis of the ads reveals a paradoxical presentation of people with HIVI AIDS, which offers simultaneous conflicting Images of hope and fear, power and weakness. Innocence and guilt. An Interactive sociolinguistic model through which this contradictory discourse might be understood Is presented. drawing on GolTman's Insights on stigma management and the presentation of the self In social Interaction. Advertisements directed towards people with HlV I AIDS, it Is suggested. present a contradictory discourse In which the advertisers are positioned as 'the wise'. offering to mediate the conflicting Identities of the stigmatized. The Identity values enacted In this contradictory discourse are further measured against American conceptions of communication and the self as observed by Carbaugh and others. The possible consequences of these posltlonlngs on the roles made available to people with HIV/AIDS In the wider social context are discussed. KEYWORDS: AIDS, advertising, gay and lesbian studies, identity, interactive sociolingUistics, stigma Perhaps more than any other group in recent history, people with AIDS (PWAs) have witnessed themselves defined. Sociologists, linguists and cultural critics have traced the various identities of PWAs presented in media, health discourse and statements of public policy from a variety of different philosophical and theoretical positions. Sontag (1989), Alcorn (1988) and Ross (1989), examining metaphors common in AIDS discourse, point out that images of war, poverty, deviance and criminality operate to identify people with AIDS as the other, foreign invaders, predators, and enemies of 'normal' society. Brandt (1988), drawing on the work of the sociologist Erving Goffman (1963), notes II:J Published by Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 108 Cowley Road. Oxford OX4 lIP. UK and 350 Main Street. Malden MA 02148. USA. 394 JONES that popular images of people with HIVI AIDS often invoke a 'triple stigma': the biological mark of illness, the 'blemish of individual character', and the 'tribal stigma' of being associated with gtoups already 'assumed to be particularly prone to infection' (homosexuals, IV drug users, and prostitutes), Other critics like Plummer (1988), Goldstein (1991) and Lupton (1994) observe that the construction of identity of PWAs in the media is often organized within contradictory discourses in which an amoral medical model for AIDS exists beside a morally charged stigma model, and people affected by it take on the opposing roles of innocent victim and guilty agent. Emphasizing the 'political stakes' involved in such construction, Plummer (1987: 45-46) writes: A whole gallery of folk devils have been introduced - the sex crazed gay, the dirty drug abuser, the Illthy whore, the blood drinking voodob-drlven black - side by side with a gallery of 'innocents' - the hemophiliacs, the blood transfusion 'victim', the new born child, even the 'heterosexual'. All of this has served to illustrate the ways in which so called 'deviance' or 'stigma' comes to mark out the moral boundaries of a particular culture and establish either a degree of closure on a particular social order or provide room for some innovations and change. The majority of the studies mentioned above, however, focus on discourse directed towards the uninfected (the proverbial 'general population'). In fact. it is to a large degree though the discursive construction of the reader as someone not having AIDS that the isolation and stigmatization of those with AIDS in such discourses is facilitated. There is, however, a large body of discursive activity emerging from within the 'AtDS community' itself which has received relatively less critical attention, discourses which seek to reclaim and reconstruct the identity of PWAs 'in their own name'. Community-based AIDS Service Organizations and the People Living with AIDS movement have increasingly become 'vehicles for socializing people into a new paradigm - a new understanding of the meaning and organization of AIDS' (Patton 1989: 115). This paradigm is as much linguistic as it is social or political (Callen 1990; Crimp 1988). The very first sentences of the founding statement of the People with AIDS Coalition, for example, presents what is essentially a linguistic argument, focusing on how labeling helps to shape social practice and human relationships: We condemn attempts to label us as 'victims', which implies defeat, and we are only occasionally 'patients', which Implies passivity and helplessness, and dependence upon others. We are 'people with AIDS'. (PWA Coalition 1987:148) As the number of infected 'survivors' grows, so does the amount of discourse directed towards this infected community, from educational materials offering PWAs advice on dealing with their situation, to commercial discourse offering goods and services to the increasingly lucrative 'AIDS market'. This new 'insider' discourse has provided PWAs with a whole new range of identities that contend with the spectacle of AIDS presented in the news media of hopeless, helpless victims, bereft of sensuality and eroticism. marked by the stigmatized signs of © Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 MARKETING THE DAMAGED SELF 395 terminal illness. These new images instead portray PWAs as healthy 'survivors', 'empowered', heroic, even athletic individuals battling against disease, death and discrimination, Harris (1995: 53) noting the prevalence of this 'sanitized' version of AIDS in popular gay magazines, suggests that such representations push AIDS discourse from optimism into the realm of 'fantasy': The most conspicuous omission [in these publications Is] Images of people with AIDS. Pictures of wasted bodies would scare advertisers and destroy the giddy mood of these magazines. In an interview with the late filmmaker Derek Jarman, Genre took the unusual step of omitting photographs of the director altogether ... Even Poz, the magazine devoted to those living with HIV, avoids photographs of diseased pariahs and instead showcases HIV-positive athletes with ruddy, gym-buffed physiques. The currency of such identities is such that they have even emerged in commercial discourses outside of the 'AIDS industry', as, for example in a recent Nike commercial featuring an HIV positive marathon runner, This papet examines the ways identity is constructed in advertisements which explicitly direct their messages towards people with AIDS (or those who have tested positive for HIV) in magazines published for the American gay community. In it I argue that these images are not entirely positive, and that even when PWAs are positioned as the talked to rather than the talked about, similar patterns of stigmatization evident in mainstream media continue to be enacted in subtler and potentially more damaging ways. SELLING AIDS Politicians and the media have spent considerable time and energy reminding us of the devastating cost of AIDS to individuals, governments and the medical and insurance industries. Few, however, have focused attention on the profits the crisis has generated. Medical researchers and practitioners, pharmaceutical manufacturers, insurance companies, educators, government bureaucrats, publishers, thousands of non-governmental organizations and their employees, and critics who write papers like this, all combine to constitute a burgeoning band of 'AIDS profiteers' whose number in some places may even exceed the number of people actually dealing with AIDS or HIV seropositivity. While not wishing to disparage the charitable motivations of, and valuable contributions made by, many members of the above groups, it would be ingenuous to ignore the money that has also been made. In most Western, capitalist economies, people with HIV I AIDS and their friends and family members are increasingly seen as an important new 'niche' market, the size of which by nearly all estimations is bound to grow considerably in the foreseeable future. Refuting Watney's (1989) view that the cultural agenda of AIDS constructs PWAs as 'disposable', Erni (1992) suggests that the 'body of the infected' is central to the power struggle within medical discourse and so constitutes a significant 'techno-political Investment' for the medical community. Similarly, as © Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 396 JONES the number of 'healthy' infected bodies grows, they gain a new importance as consumers with a particularly persistent set of needs to be exploited. Any analysis of how PWAs are constructed and positioned in advertising. therefore. must first take into account the emerging 'market identity' ofPWAs, one which in America at least is inextricably bound with the rapidly evolving 'market identity' ofyoung, gay men. 1 The advertisements gathered for this study came from two popular magazines targeting the American gay and lesbian community (The Advocate and Genre) and one particularly geared towards people with mv and mY-related illness (Poz), monitored over a period of seven months (February to August, 1995). Fifty different advertisements offering goods and services explicitly for mv positive readers were collected (see Appendix). Many of the ads appeared repeatedly in numerous issues of all three magazines. In one sense, the magazines are themselves statements of identity. They proclaim that their readers constitute a cohesive and identifiable group worthy of the advertising revenue necessary to produce a slick, 'upmarket' periodical. Bronski (1984: 147), tracing the transformation of The Advocate from a 'political' organ to a more commercial venture, attributes to it a significant role in the 'marketing of gay culture' in the seventies and eighties, much of which consisted of attracting advertising by portraying gay men as affiuent and materialistic consumers. a 'dream market'. This selling of gay identity is even more obvious in the new breed of 'upbeat, glossy gay magazines' (Harris 1995) like Genre, which aggressively pursue big ticket advertising by trading in stereotypes and questionable statistics about the power of the 'pink dollar' 2 to portray their readership as wealthy, stylish and status-seeking. The market identity driVing the social construction of PWAs in these advertisements must be located in the context of the already constructed 'gay consumer' - a white, male urban professional. well-educated, imageconscious. style-conscious and unburdened by the expenses of supporting a traditional family. The presence of mv seropositivity adds to the equation two further characteristics of the 'ideal consumer': health-conscious and 'desperate'. That the presence ofHlV or AIDS is becoming increasingly seen as an important feature of the 'gay market' is evidenced by the sheer number of ads targeting people with HlV/AIDS in these publications. In a typical issue of The Advocate, for example. more than half of the quarter-page to full-page ads are explicitly directed towards PWAs. A survey of the goods and services offered in these ads says as much about the particular constellation of needs experienced by people living with HIV/AIDS in the political and economic matrix of the United States (where medicine is almost completely privatized) as it does about identity values. Nearly two thirds of the ads (31 out of 50) advertise services associated with viatical settlements (the selling of life insurance policies by the terminally ill)], revealing the market perception (and the social reality) that living with AIDS in the United States is not just a medical challenge, but a considerable financial one as well. Other © Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 MARKlnlNG TIlE DAMAGED SELF 397 goods and services advertised include drugs and nutritional supplements (8 occurrences), pharmacies and pharmaceutical services (5 occurrences), recovery centers, water purifiers. and even a company that sends Christmas and birthday cards to clients' friends and relatives after the clients have died. An initial examination of the portrayals of PWAs in these aQs confirms Harris's (1995) observations: people with HlV/AIDS are represented'asspectacles of health, possessing immaculate, athletic bodies which communicate both strength and ｾ･ｮｳｵ｡ｬｩｴｹＮ A vast majority of the ads feature healthy, handsome, smiling young men either in 'erotic' or 'semi-erotic' poses (examples ＬｾＱ 34, 49: see Appendix) or in 'outdoorsy,' 'sporty' settings, often in the company of supportive friends or loyal pets. Advera (36, 37, 38),.a nutritional supplement, presents the reader with images of ruddy PWAs cheerfully climbing mountains or jogging alorig the beach underneath quotations like: 'Por people like me who have AIDS, there's a nutritional product that can help us increase our energy and improve the quality of our lives' (37). A tan, chiseled model in a lumberjack shirt holding a collie in his arms gives a similar testimonial for Marional. an appetite stimulant, whose ad pre-empts any doubts that might arise from such an idyllic representation by a footnote: '·Person depicted is a model who is HIV positive.' Ability Life Trust (23), a viatical settlements company, takes this image to its extreme, portraying the PWA as a bulging, Charles Atlas type holding up a globe which is surrounded by the words: 'HIV Positive? You Can Have the Whole World in Your Hands' (Figure 1). In contrast to the widespread pessimism evident in more mainstream scientific and media discourse on AIDS 4 , the ads are pervaded by a spirit of optimism. PWAs are told that they have choices, options, hopes; they are invited to dream, imagine, and, most of all, take control of their own fate, 'Today my T-cell count fell below 500,' a confident-looking young professional tells us in an ad for Life Partners, Inc. (11). 'And I feel fine.' These positive images, however, are not entirely benign. Along with this sunny optimism, the ads also invoke, sometimes only subtly, its opposite, the shadow of disease and death. Images of health and wealth are held up against a background of other possibilities: wasting, helplessness and financial ruin. There is always the hovering admission that 'eventually I'll need long term medical care' (11), the tacit, or even baldly stated notion that 'Facing a life threatening disease is the worst of all problems' (8). Often the dark side lies in the pres'uppositions that underlie apparently friendly remarks: 'No one should make you feel like you have too long too live' (7) (as if people around you might be doing just that). Other ads invoke stigma through hyperbole, by portraying such an impossible standard of health, success and power, that they even more forcefully remind the PWA of what he does not have (see for example 23.36,37.38.40). In some ads this contradictory discourse is particularly striking, with images of health and empowerment directly juxtaposed with images of despair and helplessness. Page & Associates (3. 4). for example, places the determined face of what mi'ght be a runner in the starting blocks hext to a young. waifish nude 1;) Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 398 JONES HIV POSITIVE? ＢＧｾ ｾＮ Ｚ Ｇ｜Ｎｾ･ ｾｨｯｊ･ l\fo "l'1Q' ｾ Ｎｾ tlT· 1; 399 undetectable with anti-body testing) and 'opportunistic infections', both common parlance in mv/AIDS discourse. The promise of another viatical company that there are 'No hidden clauses, no anonymous owners, no secret partners' (12), revives the discourse of 'hidden threat' so prevalent in media and educational presentations of AIDS. And the news that 'Barry's feeling better longer without MAC' (39) might more immediately conjure up the absence or death of a lover or friend rather than. as the fine print informs us. the absence of Mycobacteriwfi Avium Complex. ｾ ':t l> MARKETING THE DAMAGED SELF S>' '=' 0.. tI'> Still other ads manifest this paradoxical discourse through 'a pattern of alternation at the level of the' sentence' (Fairclough 1992: 115). In the following passage, for example, statements of hope ('pretty well', 'dreaming of my next exotic vacation') are alternated with statements of despair ('vision declined', 'worrying about health insurance, disability and life insurance'), with the advertiser presented at the end of the paragraph as an agent for the reconciliation of these contradictory discourses: For me. my life was far from perfect but by most standards things for me looked like they were going pretty well. except for being HIV+. As I slowly developed AIDS. my vision declined & I was forced to go on permanent disability. I went from dreaming of my next exotic vacation to worrying about health insurance. disability and life insurance. That's when I came in contact with Dedicated Resources. (30) Cash Now For Your life Insurance Don't Walt! Exercise Your Options We put life back into life insurance! 1-800-632-0555 Member NVA 24 hrs. Member NAPWA Figure 1: 'The whole world in your hands' (reproduced by kind permission of Ability Life Trust) curled into the fetal position. In others the contradiction arises in the form of puns or double entendres which resonate in both positive and negative directions, some fairly bordering on gallows humor. The reminder that 'Mom is waiting for your call' olTered by Mail Order Meds (44) is likely to have complex and disturbing connotations for a young HIV+ gay man who may be dealing with his family members' reactions or possible reactions to his i.llness or sexuality. The reassurance that a viatical company can 'open a whole new window of opportunity' (1) reminds the reader of both 'the window period' (the period of time shortly after infection during which HIV is transmittable but q) Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 Similarly, other ads create birtary oppositions through the mixture of conflicting registers, as in the slogan. 'Money can lift spirits. It can buy dreams. It can provide the best medical care.' (24). Here the registers of money and medicine are mixed with a more 'metaphysical' register of spirits and dreams, an uneasy marriage as the result nies in the face of one of the most fundamental principles in most 'spiritual' discourses, the idea that money cannot buy happiness. The presence of diverse and even contradictory discourses in texts is. of course, not unusual. Bakhtin (1986) has pointed out that texts not bnly draw upon meanings and conventions of other texts, but also often mix such meanings and conventions in ironic or paradoxical ways. Lee (1992: 136) claims that 'texts are typically the site of contestation between conflicting perspectives,' and Fairclough (1992: 116) has specifically detailed the ambiguous nature of much modern advertising discourse that attempts to bring together the conflicting demands of 'telling and selling'. Competing perspectives are also a common feature of much of the popular and medical discourse about AIDS. especially that which focuses on cure and treatment. Erni (1992: 41-42), for example, in his critique of the politics of AIDS treatment, sees the construction of the 'end of AIDS' as 'located in the strategic articulation between two contradictory discourses: a discourse of impossibility and a discourse of possibility,' with 'the discourse of impossibility emphasiz[ing] uncertainty and skepticism. [and] the discourse of possibility bespeak[ing] hope and excess.' !\o) Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 JONES 400 A significant aspect of such competing discourses, says Lee (1992), is not just that they present conflicting perspectives, but that they construct for the readers conflicting roles. what he calls 'social formations'. 'The concept of social formation,' he writes, 'Is linked to the process of perception In the sense that a particular phenomenon may have quite a dilTerent appearance for the same individual when viewed from the standpoint of dilTerent social formations in which he or she participates' (Lee 1992: 145). Fairclough (1992: 115) also notes how conflicting discourses within texts position readers In 'contradictory ways.' The elTect of the paradoxical perspectives seen in these ads, therefore, can best be understood through the examination of the contradictory 'identities' which they Invite their readers to assume and the relationship these contradictory identities have to the already ambiguous position PWAs Inhabit in the larger social context. DISPLAY AND THE CONSTRUcrION OF THE 'DAMAGED' IDENTITY Discourse analysts have increasingly focused their attention on how advertisements and other public discourse construct what Fairclough (1989) calls the ideal subject and Kress (1985) calls the discursively constructed reading position. Discourse, says Fairclough (1992: 64), constructs both social identities and 'social relationships between people' in the 'subject positions' it makes available. Scholars in communication and advertising have made similar observations. Vestergaard and Schroder (1985), for example, examine how advertisements put forth rules of behavioral normalcy which reflect and reinforce existing power relations in society. Goldman (1992) claims that ads create identity by transforming the readers' hopes, fears and values into commodity signs, thus making the consumer a commodity. R. Scollon (1995) questions the emphasis on a single 'idealized reader', and (1997) suggests that public discourse creates multiple identities for the receiver through ranges of choice enacted within a series of overlapping frames, each creating a dimension of the receiver's relationship with the discourse and its author. Others like (Cook 1992) similarly see ads as heteroglossic and dialogic, operating by positioning sender and receiver in particular relationships with multiple but limited role possibilities. All of these perspectives point to the notion that the 'meaning' of ads lies not just in the 'message', but in the range of relationships enacted in the ad between the sender and the receiver, and the roles the reader is invited to perform within each of these multiple relationships. GolTman (1976) in Gender Advertisements suggests a concept that underlies the above points of view, the idea that advertisement works chiefly though the ritual creation not of ideal readers, but of ideal relationships, relationships that have their roots in everyday interaction. GolTman calls this mechanism display and defines it as the tendency for people to present to each other at strategic moments 'gestural pictures' of the nature of their relationship in particular and of their shared assumptions about human nature in general. For GolTman. © Blackwell ｾｲ･ｨｳｬ ｢ｵｐ Ltd. 1997 MARKETING TIlE DAMAGED SELF 401 advertising creates a public means for putting forth these ritualized representations of 'appropriate' relationships, a kind of social portraiture in which 'the individual is given an opportunity to face directly a representation, a somewhat iconic expression, a mock-up of what he is supposed to hold dear, a presentation of the supposed ordering of his existence' (1). In ads, as in all communication, display 'provide[s] evidence of the actor's alignment ... [which] establish[es] the terms of thlot contact ... [and] the mode or style or formula for the dealings that are to ensue among the individuals in the situation' (1). This perspective suggests that in order to understand the contradictory identities presented in ads directed towards people with HIV I AIDS, we must look to the relationships constructed within these images and between the authors of the ads ahd their targets, and how these relationships invoke or draw upon already constructed 'appropriate' relationships in the everyday life of the PWA. In another work, Stigma (1963), GolTman describes the processes of identity management participated in by individuals who for one reason or another are 'marked' by society as abnormal. The situation of the stigmatized, GolTman points out, is fundamentally paradoxical, 'in that society tells him he is a member of the wider group, but that he is also dilTerent in some degree, and that it would be foolish to deny this difference' (123). Everybody, regardless of whether or not they are stigmatized, must juggle the demands of two distinct identities in public life, the self they display to others (virtual identity), and the 'secret self which is hidden from others (actual identity). For GolTman, the plight of the stigmatized 'constitutes a special discrepancy between virtual social identity and actual social identity' (3). In cases where an individual's stigma is not immediately apparent (as with many HIV positive people), identity management in everyday life is often facilitated through the mechanism of passing in which the 'discreditable' self is hidden within an envelope of virtual identity (Figure 2). In other circumstances. however, when the individual's stigma is more difficult to conceal, or in dealings with people who share a degree of ihtimacy Virtual Identity Actual Identity Figure 2: Passing © Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 402 JONES with the stigmatized, the 'abnormal' person must depend on others to assist him In the management of these contradictory Identities. Those who play this special role in the lives of the stigmatized are referred to by Goffman as the wise, 'insiders' or confidants who, by virtue of their knowledge and closeness to the stigmatized, hold the power to facilitate (or disrupt) the mechanism of passing, to act as 'mediators' between the stigmatized's virtual and actual identities (Figure 3). The same tension between conflicting identities which plays itself out in the everyday lives of PWAs can be seen enacted in the discursive construction of the disease and those affected by it, a narrative which 'mobilizers] the image of the war between the self and the not self (Erni 1992: 47). The paradoxical presentation of identity in ads directed towards people with HIV/AIDS can therefore be seen in the larger social context of stigma management; by simultaneously invoking a virtual identity of health and 'normality' and an actual identity of disease and deviance, the advertisers position themselves in the role of the wise, thus clothing themselves with the aura of intimacy and authority enjoyed by those who play similar roles in the PWA's actual life: friends, lovers, counselors and health professionals, The positioning of the advertiser (or product) as a mediator between fact and fantasy, between who the reader is and who he would like to be, is in fact quite typical in advertising, Cook (1992: 13 7) offers many instances in advertising, especially in that targeted at women, in which the product acts as a mediator between public and private selves and 'promises reconciliation between apparently rival claims', ThiS positioning, however, takes on special significance in ads directed towards PWAs because of the stigmatization and challenges in identity management they already face in the larger social context. for by exploiting and displaying these rival identities of the stigmatized and offering to mediate between them, the authors reinforce the very process of stigmatization which they promise to relieve. MARKETING THE DAMAGED SELF 403 The advertisers make the position of the wise available to themselves both by peopling the ads with images of individuals who nonnally play such a role in the real lives of people with AIDS, friends and family members (12,19,26,44), lovers (la, 14, 34, 38) and health care professionals (41, 43, 50), and by themselves reenacting the discourse of involvement common to such individuals. Linguistic strategies of involvement, Scollon and Scollon (1995: 36-37) point out, 'uphold a cOll\lllonly created view of the world' and emphasize the reader's 'right and need to be considered a normal. contributing or supporting member of society.' Such strategies include: Noticing or attending to the reader 'We focus on you, your needs' (28) Exaggerating interest, approval, sympathy 'You deserve the best life possible' (28) 'You'll be treated with the respect, dignity and attention you're entitled to.' (7) Claiming in-group membership 'Being the only gay owned and operated company providing this service, we understand your needs and frustrations just a little bit better than our competition.' (3) Claiming a common point of view, opinions, attitude or knowledge 'I've been through the process.' (17) 'Nobody knows what you're going through better than us.' (25) Being optimistic 'Distant lands to see. Goals to achieve. Spirit to rejuvenate.' (5) Using the reader's language or dialect Use of 'buzz words' associated with the 'gay rights' movement like 'Pride', 'Dignity', 'Affirmative Lifestyles', as well as the movement's symbols, like the inverted pink triangle. Again, such strategies are common in advertising as authors attempt to create an atmosphere of trust and intimacy. When directed towards the stigmatized, however, these strategies construct not just intimacy but also a particular kind of power relationship between the author and the reader, as the advertisers take on the mantle of the wise upon whom the stigmatized is dependent for successful identity management. IDENTITY VAWES AND THE TEMPLATE OF THE AMBRICAN 'NORMAL' Within this pattern of stigma management, advertisers construct, therefore, not a single identity for the PWA, but dual identities, a virtual self, consisting of identity values which the reader is meant to emulate if he hopes to be regarded as 'normal', and more indirectly an actual self, which undermines the possibility of 'normality', Both of these identities are fictions, the virtual identity presenting an unobtainable standard of physical and psychological well-being, and the Figure 3: The role of the wise © Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 © Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 404 JONES actual identity invoking society's worst suspicions about the PWA, and the reader's worst fears about himself, an identity which in truth is no more 'actual' than the paradigm of health and happiness behind which it hides. Thus the ads simultaneously offer and deny the possibility of passing. In order to understand how this occurs and the identity values enacted within this pattern, it is necessary to take into account the cultural notions of self and communication of the society within which the ads were produced, to ask: What does it mean to be normal in America, and how is the normal self expressed through communication? The normal the PWA is meant to 'pass as' must be measured against the template of the' American normal'. Carbaugh (1988), in his analysis of personhood and American communication in the discourse of Donahue, observes a constellation of identity values and rules of interaction that function in American public discourse. Among these are the notions that the self is an 'individual' contained within the body which inherently possesses 'dignity' and 'the right to choose'. The appropriate way in which this self is enacted is through the public exercise of options and expression of individual opinions and personality within a framework of mutual respect. Failure to exercise options and express individuality are seen as a kind of dysfunctionality, a loss of selfhood. Other scholars, like Scollon and Scollon (1995) and S. Scollon (1995). also see the conception of self as closely related to conceptions of communication, in particular those expressed in the ideology of the Utilitarian Discourse System. Communication within this discourse system, they observe, is regarded as a tool for solving problems. with high value being placed on information, objectivity, directness and logical positivist thinking. They further claim that the emphasis on information and corttrol in American communication is related to a worldview which Is individualistic, goal oriented, and pragmatic. Not surprisingly, similar symbols for personhood and rules of interaction are emphasized in the ads as appropriate identity values for the PWA to emulate. Invocation of these values. however, within the framework of stigmatization and the discrepancy between virtual and actual identities, is problematic. as they celebrate the very features of selfhood and means of expressing it that are typically denied to people with HIV/AIDS. Exercising options The notion that selfhood is measured by the number of options an individual possesses and the power he has to exercise those options is a particularly salient feature in many of the ads. 'Don't wait: the reader is urged, 'Exercise your options' (23). 'You should be completely aware of all your options' (12) another ad advises. The 'right to choose' is seen as a fundamental feature of the normal self. and inability to display and exercise this right is seen as a failure to take responsibility for discovering the options that naturally exist. 'Opportunities always exist', the PWA is told, 'Let Neuma help you discover yours' (31). © Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 MARKETING TIlE DAMAGED SELF 405 Put in these terms, the diminishing options that inevitably accompany serious illness are presented to the PWA as a threat to his ·selfhood'. The solution, of course, is to construct an appropriate virtual self by 'choosing' to patronize the goods or services of the advertiser. The gbod or service becomes a way for the reader to regain selfhood as the advertiser 'open[s] a whole new window of opportunity' (1). There is. however, a darker side to this 'discourse of options'. Carbaugh (1988) reminds us that options are almost invariably accompanied by a number of assumptions which act as constraints to the exercise of options, in particular the assumption of accountability: 'Each individual must assume the responsibility for all of his or her actions. and, at another more basic level, persons in public must conceive of their lives and actions as individual matters of rights and choice' (Carbaugh 1988: 58). The invocation of 'personal responsibility' is a particularly common feature in popular media's portrayals of PWAs which treat those in certain groups (hemophiliacs. infants) as 'innocent victims', and those in other groups (homosexuals, IV drug users) as somehow responsible for their COndition, guilty agents in their own and others' destruction. In the context of the ads, the position of choice the reader is invited to take up implies also a position of responsibility which not only asks the PWA to take responsibility for dealing with his situation - 'you've got to get tough' (3) - but also subtly implies that he bears responsibility for his own infection and 'self-destructive behavior' (49). AIDS itself becomes a matter of choice. The code of dignity The 'code of dignity' so stressed by Carbaugh (1994) in his studies of cultural values in American communication, is also a salient feature of the ads. The advertisers promise 'The cash you need and the dignity you deserve' (27), that 'Dignity is a right you will maintain' (29), and that 'You'll be treated with the respect, dignity and attention you're entitled to' (7). One ad (2) even quotes Donahue, the very source of most of Carbaugh's observations: 'The final months of a person's life are lived with the dignity of not going broke' (Phil Donahue, The Donahue Show, December. 1992). Tied up with this 'code of dignity', however, are the demands of uniqueness, 'to know how one's necessities, abilities and capacities differ from others,' and authenticity, 'to be forthcoming and expressive about oneself, to coalesce one's outer actions with one's inner thoughts and feelings' (Carbaugh 1994: 176), demands problematic for the PWA caught within the discourse of stigma management constructed by the ads. The very uniqueness he is asked to celebrate is the feature that robs him of 'appropriate' selfhood, making him into a member of a stigmatized group, a diseased body, a 'damaged' self. Perhaps the most painful paradox of all in the ads is the emphasis on self-expression as a central feature of 'personhood'. They are full of people with HIV/AIDS © Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 JONES 406 displaying their seropositivity and claiming it publicly as part of their ideritity, sometimes as models portraying themselves as PWAs with 'special needs', and sometimes through the confessional voice of actual testimonials: Hi, my name is Andrei and I am living and dealing with AIDS in all of its ramifications. I guess I'm pretty much in the same situation as many of you. Andrei Kraminskyl HIV+ 8 years. (30) In the same breath, however, the ads emphasize to the reader that he may not have the same opportunities for self-expression as Andrei Kraminsky and his ilk, constructing alongside the 'code of dignity' a 'code of secrecy': 'Confidentiality is assured.' (16) 'For the Money You Need and the Confidentiality You Deserve.' (32) 'Strict Confidentiality.' (21) 'Your call will be confidential.' (26) '[we] will not release confidential information.' (32) 'All orders are shipped overnight in plain, unmarked boxes.' (45) This tension between the demand for public enactment of the self and the need to conceal one's identity goes to the very heart of what GotTman calls the 'paradoxical situation of the stigmatized: as the enactment of self serves to remind the reader of the constraints on such enactment. Carbaugh writes (1994: 177): There is an irony built into the . . . discourse of dignity. It consists of a general dynamic: the common meanings made when coding conversation this way are highly indiVidualized and liberating, while the forms and moral status of those very meanings are largely collectivized and constraining. For the stigmatized, public enactment of the self amounts to an act of 'disclosure' or 'confession', an act which Foucault (1981) points out invariably involves unequal power relationships: while confession seemingly 'exonerates, redeems and purifies (the confessor); unburdens him of his wrongs; liberates him and promises him salvation' (62), what it actually does is draw the confessor more into a position of being dominated. Gamson (1996), discussing the affects of the public enactment of gay and lesbian identity on daytime television, notes the feelings of ambivalence experienced by the stigmatized in witnessing 'himself publicly displayed: For lesbians, gay men, bisexuais, drag queens, transsexuals - and combinations thereof _ watching daytime television has got to be spooky. Suddenly there are renditions of you, chattering away In a system that otherwise ignores or steals your voice at every turn. (80) This ambivalence is enhanced in the case of the PWA who must invariably view such displays against the possible consequences of disclosure in his individual situation. Again, the advertisers present a 'solution' to the dilemma, offering to mediate between the demands of self-enactment and the demands of secrecy by © Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 199i MARKETING THE DAMAGED SELF 407 simultaneously putting forth a surrogate to enact the 'AIDS identity' and promising the reader that his own confidentiality will be protected. Knowledge =Power Along with the identity values Carbaugh sees as characteristic of American notions of 'personhood', the ads also reinforce communication values inherent in what Scollon and Scollon (1995) refer to as the Utilitarian Discourse System, in particular the emphasis placed on 'knowledge' and information. Borrowing the style of medical. educational and counseling discourses, the advertisers give the impression that the purpose of their advertisements is not to sell, but to provide information, creating what Fairclough (1992: U5) has observed in other advertisements as an emerging discursive 'hybrid' of information and publicity. Several of the ads are embellished with technical jargon, complicated scientific discourses on drug contraindications, precautions and interactions (40), and optimistic positivist assertions like, 'Getting (your immune system) to work better is a matter of fundamental cellular biology' (34, 35). Even ads for financial services use the style of medical discourse: 'More and more. people surviving with AIDS are selling their life insurance for relief from one of AIDS most common symptoms ... stress.' (3) 'We know from experience that selling a life insurance policy can reduce financial stress and help you gain additional control over your life.' (14) 'Our purpose is to eliminate or reduce the financial stress associated with the physical stress of terminal illness.' (27) Some of the ads are presented in the form of newsletters, clothing their claims as facts. An ad for Mail Order Meds (45), for instance. which consists almost entirely of a newspaper style article on the relationship between nutrition and HIV infection, blends advice on preventing AIDS-related wasting almost seamlessly with information on nutritional products available through the company. Similarly, an ad for Pacific Oaks Medical Group masquerades as an issue of Healtheare News, with every 'news item' from concerns about TB to the promise seen in research on protease inhibitors invariably related to services available through the group. 'I am more Informed regarding healthcare decisions than ever before,' says a smiling PWA featured in the ad, 'Thanks Pacific Oaks.' 'Knowledge' is portrayed in the ads as an essential tool for the successful enactment of the virtual identity - 'Knowledge is Power' (13) - and the advertisers are thus elevated to the status of 'professionals' - possessors of knowledge. Erni (1992) points out that the metaphor: Knowledge=Cure is central in media and medical discourses on curing and preventing AIDS, and that this metaphor resonates in different (and sometimes damaging) ways for different readers. For the uninfected, it implies knowledge of the 'deviant' identities of potential 'carriers'. For the infected, it implies culpability (for not to Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 JONES 408 knowing enough not to have gotten infected in the first place) and the hope of 'redemption' through the information made available to him (for a price) from the 'AIDS industry'. Failing to purchase this knowledge is seen as irresponsible, an act of willful ignorance whose consequence is no less than death. The political consequences of such readings are an invitation to the uninfected to discriminate, and an invitation to the infected to feel guilty and dependent on society and the medical community's 'undeserved sympathy.' A similar dynamic plays itself out in these advertisements. By so persistently offering 'knowledge', the advertisers construct the reader as 'lacking knowledge'. Readers are repeatedly put in the position of having to ask: 'ask your care team about ONDROX' (50), 'See your doctor immediately and ask if MARINOL is right for you' (40), 'To learn more, call 1-80Q-RX B4 MAC' (39). Theirs is a discourse of questions. Even these questions, however, are co-opted by the advertisers, who readily advise readers on which questions are 'important' and which are not: 'Twelve Questions You Need To Ask Before Selling Your Life Insurance Policy' (12), 'The answers to these and other important questions in this new booklet.' (13). Fighting stress One final. and perhaps most disturbing aspect of some of these ads is the way they resurrect metaphors of war and struggle already elucidated by Alcorn (1988), Sontag (1989) and others. These metaphors, according to Stollon and Scollon (1995), also arise from conceptions of the self and communication contained within the Utilitarian Discourse System, which emphasize 'control' and aggression and give rise to what is known as 'Type A Behavior Syndrome' (Friedman and Rosenman 1974). One prominent feature of the virtual identity presented in many of the ads is exactly thiS type of behavior: 'We're the company that helps people gain control of their lives financially.' (1) 'Relief fast. You want It, you've got It. But you've got to get tough.' (3) 'Fight back ...Now more than ever, surviving with AIDS takes aggressive financial planning.' (4) 'Take Control.' (12) 'Living with HIV is a challenge.' (31) 'Advera can playa key role in your fight to maintain your weight.' (36) 'Weigh In and Fight HIV Infection.' (45) The metaphor of living as a 'fight' or 'challenge' not only invokes the possibility that the PWA may be 'defeated' (a disturbing reminder of actual identity), it also puts him at war with himself. As Sontag (1989) has told us, the line between 'virus as enemy' and the infected body as enemy blurs in the discourse of 'fighting AIDS'. Furthermore, one cannot help but wonder about the effect such an aggressive, control-oriented approach might have on an individual with clear medical reasons to avoid stress - the idea of 'fighting stress' seems an oxymoron. © Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 MARKETING THE DAMAGED SELF 409 CONCLUSION Professional and 'in-group' presentations of stigmatized individuals, Goffman (1963: 109-111) notes, present the stigmatized with a 'code of behavior' regarding the appropriate ways of 'facing up to' his problem, desirable patterns of revealing and concealing and 'recipes for an appropriate attitude regarding the self.' 'To fail to adhere to the code is to be a self-deluded, misgUided person: he writes, 'to succeed is to be both real and worthy.' The display of identity in advertisements directed towards people with HIVI AIDS prOVides an example of such a 'code of behavior'. This display teaches the reader what identity values he should hold dear in order to participate in the world of the 'normal'. At the same time, however, It reminds him that such participation is a kind offragile ruse - that true 'normality' is impossible. Far from liberating the reader from the negative stereotypes ofthe mainstream media, the images in these ads actually reinforce them by presenting virtual and actual identities through a series of binary oppositions (Table 1). The creation of the 'idealized' self- healthy, empowered and possessing options - is intertwined with and dependent upon the creation of its opposite, a 'damaged' self - diseased, powerless, guilty of both ignorance and moral failing - fulfilling in fact. all of the worst indictments of the less generou1; popular press. Neither of these identities is a 'realistic' portrayal of or helpful model for people with HIV/AIDS. They merely fuel the already powerful pattern of stigmatization existing in the larger social frame. I do not mean to suggest that this mechanism of stigmatization is unique to Table 1: Virtual and actual identities Virtual identity 'Actual' identity Healthy/rich Ill/poor Has 'options', 'the right to choose' 'Right to choose' limited by institutional and physical factors Deserves respect, 'dignity' Denied dignity/deserves punishment 'Empowered' Powerless Unique, independent of social roles Defined by membership in stigmatized group Exercises rights and power through public affirmation of Identity Must conceal Identity, requires 'confidentiality' Possesses 'knowledge' (knowledge=power) Lacks 'knowledge' (knowledge=danger) Aggressive, goal oriented, In control. successful(type A personality) Passive, aimless, lacks control, a 'failure' Dreams Worries © Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 410 JONES ads targeting PWAs. In fact, many media texts manifest similar dualistic tensions in such areas of power versus solidarity, and negative versus positive perspectives (Kress 1986). Similar stigmatizing positioilings and constructions can be seen In much advertising discourse - ads for beauty aids, for example, which operate not just by presenting a standard of beauty but by widening the circle of 'ugliness' open to stigmatization. It is hoped that the approach put forth in this paper can illuminate not just how patterns of stigmatization arise and operate in the discourse of AIDS, but how such patterns also may occur In other areas of public discourse, and how they are used to reinforce ideologies and power relationships within societies, for, as Goffman notes (1963: 137-138): Stigma involves not so much a set of concrete individuals who can be separated into two piles, the stigmatized and the normal. but a pervasive two-role social process in which every individual participates in both roles, at least in some connections and in some phases in life. The normal and the stigmatized are not persons but rather perspectives. NOTFS 1. The fact that the 'AIDS market' in America is practically synonymous with the 'gay market' itself attests to the increasingly successful selling of the 'gay consumer'. The absence of representations of other groups affected by the crisis (IV drug users, people or color) comes from already existing perceptions about these groups' relatively unattractive 'market identity'. Thus, what is championed by many gay activists as evidence or the gay community's growing clout also serves to reinforce popular and market perceptions that AIDS is a 'gay disease'. 2. Harris (1995) cites, for example, the claim that average household income for gay men is $47,000 a year, 12 percent higher than ror 'other' Americans. The validity or such studies, however, is doubtful since it is orten affiuence itself that affords someone the rreedom to 'come out': lower income gays and lesbians are less likely to identiry themselves as such (even in magazine surveys), more vulnerable to the firiancial and social consequences or rejection and also less likely to read expensive magazines. This portrayal or the 'gay market' has to some degree backfired on the gay and lesbian community as right wing, 'pro-family' organizations cite similar demographics to argue that a group already so 'privileged' hardly requires 'special' civil or legal protection. 3. 'Viatication' is the selling of a life insurance policy to an investor firm. The firm takes a percentage or the policy value in exchange ror its services, but how much varies Widely from company to company. In most states in the U.S. firms offering viatical services are not regulated, though in a few like California, New York, Kansas and New Mexico, licensure is required. 4. Medical advances and the positive 'spin' the media has put on AIDS in the wake of the 1996 International AIDS Conference in Vancouver has made recent popular presentations of AIDS more 'hopeful', with what Erni (1992) calls the 'discourse of impossibility' attaining dominance. Interestingly, the more skeptical. pessimistic 'discourse of impossibility' is now primarily emanating from AIDS activists, like members of ACT-UP who question both the methods and the motivation of the techrlo-medical establishment and the media which celebrate it. ro Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 MARKETING THE DAMAGED SELF 411 REFERENCFS Alcorn, Keith. 1988. Illness, metaphor and AIDS. In Peter Aggleton and Hilary Homans (eds.) Social aspects oj AIDS. London: Falmer. 65-82. Bakhtin. M. M. 1986. Speech genres and other late essays (Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist (eds.), V. W. McGee (trans.)). Austin: University of Texas Press. Brandt, Allan M. 1988. AIDS: From social history to social policy. In Elizabeth Fee and Daniel M. Fox (eds.) AIDS: The burdens of history. Berkeley: University or California Press. 147-171. Bronski. Michael. 1984. Cluture clash: The making ofgay sensibility. Boston: South End Press. Callen, Michael 1990. AIDS: The linguistic battlefield. In Christopher Ricks and Leonard Michaels (eds.) The state of the language. Berkeley: University of California Press. 171182. Carbaugh, Donald. 1988. Talking American. Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex. Carbaugh, Donald. 1994. Personhood, positioning and cultural pragmatics: American dignity in cross-cultural perspective. Communication Yearbook 17: 159-186. Cook. Guy. 1992. The discourse of advertising. London: Routledge. Crimp. Douglas (ed.). 1988. AIDS: Cultural analysis, cultural activism. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Erni, John. 1992. Articulating the (im)possible: Popular media coverage and the cultural politics or 'curing AIDS'. Communication 13: 39-56. Fairclough. Norman. 1989. Language and power. London: Longman. Fairclough. Norman. 1992. Discourse and social change. Cambridge: Polity Press. Foucault. Michel. 1981. History of Sexuality (Vol. 1). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. Friedman, Marsella A. and Ray H. Rosenman. 1974. Type A behavior and your heart. New York: Alfred A. Knopr. Gamson, J. 1996. Do ask, do tell: TV talk shows may be crass and voyeuristic, but they give a voice to those who have been silenced. Utne Reader, February 1996: 78-83. Goffman, ErVing. 1963. Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Goffman, Erving. 1976. Gender advertisements. London: Macmillan. Goldman, Robert. 1992. Reading ads socially. London: Routledge. Goldstein, Richard. 1991. The implicated and the immune: Responses to AIDS in the arts and popular culture. In Dorothy Nelkin, David P. Willis, and Scott V. Parris (eds.) A disease of society: Cultural and institutional responses to AIDS. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 17-42. Harris, D. 1995. Out or the closet and into never-never land. Harper's, December 1995: 52-53. Kress, Gunther. 1985. LingUistic processes in sociocultural practice. Oxrord: Oxrord University Press. Kress, Gunther. 1986. Language in the media: The construction or public and private. Media, Culture and Society 8: 395-419. Lee, David. 1992. Competing discourses: Perspective and ideology In language. London: Longman. Lupton, Deborah. 1994. Moral threats and dangerous desires: AIDS In the news media. London: Taylor and Francis. Patton, Cindy. 1989. The AIDS industry: The construction or 'victims', 'volunteers' and experts. In Erica Carter and Simon Walney (eds.) Taking liberties: AIDS and cultural politics. London: Serpent's Tail. 113-125. © Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 412 JONES Patton, Cindy. 1990. Inventing AIDS. New York: Routledge. Plummer, Kenneth. 1988. Organizing AIDS. In Peter Aggleton and Hilary Homans (eds.) Social asptcts of AIDS. London: Falmer. 20-51. PWA Coalition. 1987. Founding statement of People with AIDS/ARC (The Denver Principles). In Douglas Crimp (ed.) AIDS: Cultural analysis, cultural activism. Cambridge. Massachusetts: MIT Press. 148-149. Ross, Judith W. 1989. Ethics and the language of AIDS. In Eric T. Juengst and Barbara A. Koenig (eds.) The meaning of AIDS. New York: Praeger. 30-41. Scollon. Ron. 1995. Discourse identity: Multiple identities and polyfocal reception. Competitive Earmarked Research Grant Research Note #6. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong. Scollon, Ron. 1997. Handbills, tissues and condoms: A site of engagement for the construction of identity in public discourse. Journal of Sociolinguistics 1: 39-61. Scollon. Suzanne. 1995. Metaphors of self and communication: English and Cantonese. MARKETING THE DAMAGED SELF 413 APPENDIX: Advertisements directed at people with HIV/AIDS (from The Advocate, Genre and Paz, February to August 1995) No. Company Description Slogan Page & Associates (viatical settlements) B/w seated male nude. black background 2 terminally ill ... there are options Page & Associates Color seated male nude 3 Now. Selling Your Life Insurance Puts More Than Just Money In Your Pocket Page & Associates B/w half male face, small color seated male nude, black background relief fast. we promise. 4 Page & Associates B/w half male face, small color seated male nude. black background fight back ... 5 Legacy Benefits Corporation (viatical settlements) White page, text in black box Distant lands to see. Goals to achieve. Spirits to rejuvenate. 6 American Life Resources (viatical settlements) Suit lapel with red ribbon RED RIBBONS COVER THE HEART BUT NOT THE EXPENSES. Address correspondence to: 7 Rodney Jones Department of English City University of Hong Kong Tat Chee Avenue Kowloon Tong Hong Kong Life Entitlements Corp. (viatical settlements) B/w drawing: male profile looking down country road If you're terminally ill, no one should make you feel like you have too long to live. 8 Viaticus (viatlcal settlements) Small b/w picture of young male against white background Facing a Life Threatening Illness is the Worst of all Problems 9 Life Partners Inc. (viatical settlements) Text in light blue rectangle in blue marble background Milltl/lngua 16: 1-38. Scollon, Ron and Suzanne Wong Scollon. 1995. Intercultural communication. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Sontag. Susan. 1989. AIDS and Its metaphors. New York: Farrar Strauss Giroux. Vestergaard, Torben and Kim Schroder. 1985. The language of advertising. Oxford: Blackwell. Watney, Simon. 1989. Taking liberties. In Erica Carter and Simon Watney (eds.) Taking liberties: AIDS and cultural politics. London: Serpent's Tail. 1-57. enrodney@cltyu.edu.hk Come To The Source/ Strength and Experience Stability and Efficiency/ Be certain of your financial decision. © Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 10 Life Partners Inc. Small blue tint pictures of threshold of suburban home/two young bearded men in kitchen Imagine .. , 11 Life Partners Inc. Sepia tint picture of young man in cardigan and glasses, confident. thoughtful expression "Today my T-cell count fell below 500" il:J Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 JONES 414 MARKETING nm 415 DAMAGED SELF --- No. Company National Viator Representatives Inc. (viaticaI settlement advisor) 12 Description Slogan B/w picture of seven adult figures of varying ages (6 males, 1 female) in family portrait posture with dog In middle "WE'RE THE PEOPLE WHO DON'T THINK YOU SHOULD SEu.. YOUR LIFE INSURANCE POLICY BY FLIPPING THROUGH A MAGAZINE" 13 National Viator Representatives Inc. Picture of booklet: All the Questions You Need to Ask Before Selling Your Life Insurance KNOWLEDGE IS rOWER. 14 Individual Benefits (viatical settlements) Three snapshot style photos: full face young male/profile of male with another male looking from background/ two males sitting next to window, one with hand on other's knee Living with the changing stages of life doesn't have to be a financial challenge ... Life Benefactors, L.P. (viatical settlements) 15 IF A PICTURE IS WORTH picture of video tape with oyster shell and pearl beside A THOUSAND WORDS, IMAGINE THE VALUE OF it AN EIGHT MINUTE VIDEO. No. Company Description Slogan 21 The Medical Escrow Society (viatical settlements) Detail from Sistine Chapel (God and Adam) Two hands reaching for each other HIV+? Reach Out and Let The Medical Escrow Society Help Youl/The Medical Escrow Society ... Here Today for Your Tomorrow! 22 Ability Life Trust (viatical settlements) Outline of dove in flight filled with clouds/sky TERMINALLY II1.. ... SET YOURSELF FREEl/TAKE THE STRESS OUT OF THE EQUATION/WE PUT LIFE BACK INTO LIFE INSURANCE 23 Ability Life Trust Muscular male in swimsuit holding up globe HIV POSITIVE? You Can Have the Whole World In Your HandslDon't Waltl Exercise Your Options 24 Life Entitlements Corp. Drawing: face over globe. hand holding single leaf When you're facing a terminal illness. money can make all the difference in the world 25 Community Prescription Service Snapshot style photo of young, healthy looking man with caption: Stephen Gendin AIDS Activist HIV+ for 9 years Co-founder of Community Prescription Service "I run my prescription service like my life depends on it. Because it does." 16 South Eastern Financial Management, Inc. (viatlcal settlements) picture of one hundred dollar bills CASH FOR LIFE INSURANCE 17 ViatiCare Financial Services. L.L.C. (viatlcal settlements) Small. close text. no graphics IF YOU ARE LIVING WITH HIV ... YOU SHOULD READ THIS 26 18 Atllrmatlve Lifestyles, Inc. (viatical settlements) Blurred photo of seated male figure If someone you know is considering selling their life insurance policy, call us for a free brochure on viatlcal settlements. / Atrrrmative Lifestyles , .. The difference between life and living. Life Funding Corporatlon (viatical settlements) B/w backlit photo of two men, separated by a distance. facing each other, one looking towards the other, the other looking to the ground When time is running short and so is your money ... / Discover Financial Freedom with Funds for Life 27 (Deborah Rhodes) Viatical Clearing House (viatical settlements) Simple graphic, text in gray rectangle THE CASH YOU NEED, THE DIGNITY YOU DESERVE 28 Viatical Resources Company (viatical settlements) Outline drawing of a dove with a leaf in its mouth You deserve the best life possible/If you are considerlng a/Viatical Settlement/ VRC can help you achieve your goals 29 National Vlatical Association (professional organization) Association logo (NVA) In red and blue against white, lettering In red and blue TRUST - DIGNITY 19 Alirrmative Lifestyles, Inc. 20 Benefit Advocates (viatlcal settlements advisory) If you are considering selling Blurred photo of two male figures, one seated, the other your life insurance policy, call us for a free brochure on standing viatical settlements. Graphic of ovals above inverted triangles Immediate Cash for the Terminally III © Blackwell publishers Ltd. 1997 © Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1997 416 JONES No. C..ompany Slogan No. Company Description Slogan 37 Advera Color picture of young African American running along a beach with an Irish setter on a leash "For people with AIDS, there's a nutritional product that can help us Increase our energy and Improve the quality of our lives" 38 Advera Color picture of two ydung men In hiking shorts on mountainside "We discovered If you have HIV or AIDS, there are some things you can do for yourself to keep up your weight, your energy and the quality of your life" 39 Mycobutin, SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals (prescription drug) Color close-up of smiling young man (mouth and chin slightly out of focus) Barry's feeling better longer without MAC. 40 Marinol, Roxane Laboratories Inc. (prescription drug) Color picture of a young man In a natural setting, kneeling and holding a dog (back page: dense page of medical/chemical Informatlon) "A BIG PART OF ... WHY I CAN EAT'" (small print: 'Quoted from a MARINOL patient seen on CNN, aired 2/94. Person depicted Is a model who Is HIV positive.) 41 Priority Pharmacy (pharmacy) Col1age with large blue R, red telephone receiver crossing one leg, prescription pad, airplane, map of the U.S., stethoscope and color photo of young man In white lab coat speaking on phone LITTLE TOUCHES MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE 42 Colorado Pharmacy (pharmacy) Outline draWing of red AIDS ribbon HIV Positive? 43 Stratlander's Pharmacy (pharmacy) B/w picture of young man TO PROVIDE mE MOST COMPREHENSIVE HIV I AIDS CARE, WE DON'T JUST DELlVER/WE ALSO PICK UP. Dedicated Resources (vlatlcal settlements) Small b/w passport style photo of young man with mustache and earring shaped like a cross, caption: Andrei KamlnskylHIV + 8 Yrs. living and Deallng With AIOS/A Vlatlcal Story 31 Neuma Inc. (viatical settlements) Just text Opportunities Exist 32 National Viatlcal Association Text in diploma style border Our pledge to all Americans coping with terminal iIInessl For The Money You Need and the Confidentiality You Deserve 34 Lasting Impressions aMJ Custodies custodial service) Beres Drops Plus (dietary supplement) 417 Description 30 33 MARKETING mE DAMAGED SELF If you are HIV positive or B/w photo of young man, back to camera, looking out have AIDs, take the time now to make a Lasting over lake Impression on your loved ones, family and friends. Your Immune Systeml ... Color photo of two bare chested men, one embracing Getting It to work better Is the other from behind In an a matter of fundamental erotic manner, white hand- cellular biology. writing over picture reads: 'You name It, U's better ... eating, sleeping, fee\lng, , playing ... (Every Drop Counts!) 35 Beres Drops Plus Color close-up of thoughtful Your Immune System/... Getting It to work better Is looking young man In business suit with ear piece a matter of fundamental of tortoise shel1 glasses In his cellular biology mouth (text Identical to 34) 36 Advera (nutritional supplement) Color picture of young man "I never worried too much In singlet and shorts sitting about nutrition. Then, my doctor told me I was HIV on floor of well furnished Positive. Now, I do every\lving room with pair of thing I can to maintain my running shoes, newspaper and glass of Advera next to . energy, strength and qua\lty of \lfe." (Advanced nutrlhim tional management to preserve quality of life) C!:) Blackwell Publishers Ud. 1997 it) Blackwell PUblishers Ltd. 1997 with earring In white lab coat holding a phone to his ear, name plate: Marc Don ... IPharmacy ... 418 JONES No. Company 44 Mail Order Meds, Inc. (phannacy) 45 Description Slogan 2 page ad: (I) MOM is Waiting for Your (1) cartoon picture of old woman sitting on a rocking Call chair and knitting, the phone next to her is personified and also knitting, to her right is a personal computer (2) newsletter type layout with sidebar, masthead (2) Message from Mom/ Spring 1995IHIV News from Mail Order Meds, Inc.! Weigh In and Fight HIV Infection 46 Pacific Oaks (medical practitioners) Newsletter style, b/w passport style photo of young man, caption: "I am more informed regarding healthcare decisions than ever before. Thanks Pacific Oaks." Healthcare News 47 American Preferred Plan, FLA, Inc. (prescription/nutrition organization) Cartoon penguin pointing towards sentences that all begin with Yes, picture of 'girt bag' Just Say Yesl 48 Everpure (drinking water filters) B/w picture of glass of water IS YOUR GLASS OF DRINKING WATER HALF-FOIL? with text inside HALF EMPTY? OR SIMPLY UFE-THREATENING?/ EVERPURE: BECAUSE WE DON'T WANT ANYONE TO DIE OF THIRST. 49 Pride at Solutions Institute (recovery center) Last Call ... B/w picture of young man in underwear unconscious on bathroom Door, scattered pills and beer bottle on the toilet above him 50 Unimed (drugs/ nutritional supplements) Find out about our new Color photo of woman in white lab coat with ID tag . resource for improving your quality of life. (facing camera) talking to young man who is holding a pamphlet (back to camera) © Blackwell Publishers LId. 1997