Balbir Pasha : The Baadshah of Aids Campaigns in India

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PSI, a Washington DC – based non-profit organization, worked around the globe in the area of health care for the low-income population. In 2002, PSI as part of its Indian operations, started ‘Operation Lighthouse', a program aimed at bringing about behavioral change in target group members in order to reduce the risk of HIV/AIDS contraction. As part of this program, a campaign was launched, which later came to be known as the ‘Balbir Pasha'campaign. The campaign was launched in Mumbai, the city considered to be the epicenter of India's HIV/AIDS problem. As part of this campaign, PSI worked with Lowe, an advertising agency.

The four-month-long campaign (November 2002 – February 2003) was successful in achieving its objectives. Post-campaign research revealed that the campaign had made an impact on the target group and changed their attitudes toward risky behavior. Though a number of campaigns had been launched earlier in Mumbai, which conveyed messages relating to AIDS, they were more informative and educational in nature and did not address the consumer directly. For example, the messages conveyed were, ‘Let's keep Mumbai AIDS free'or ‘HIV/AIDS does not spread through touch'.

The Balbir Pasha campaign was direct and addressed the individual. The campaign also provided information about HIV/AIDS hotlines and counseling and testing services available for people.
Pre-campaign research revealed that one in every three men who visited a commercial sex worker (CSW) was ignorant of the fact that a healthy looking individual could also be a carrier of HIV. Many among the target group were unaware of the fact that the men who patronized CSWs had a high risk of contracting HIV. A strong link was also found between high-risk behavior and alcohol consumption.

PSI India devised a campaign focused on urban men in the age group of 18-34 and belonging to the lower socio-economic groups, as they were part of the high-risk category that frequented CSWs. The campaign wanted to generate a discussion about HIV/AIDS among the target population and also aimed at increasing the perception of HIV/AIDS risk among the high-risk groups by personalizing the message through the creation of identifiable real-life situations.
The campaign was based on the Social Learning Theory of Albert Bandura, which said that people could learn by observing the behavior of others. An ‘alter-ego', Balbir Pasha was thus created to serve as a behavioral model to communicate risk awareness among the target group.

The character, which the target group could identify with, was used to convey the message in an approachable and easy manner. The campaign used a number of media vehicles to communicate its message. An appropriate mix of vehicles was selected which included print ads, mainly in language newspapers, television and radio commercials, billboards, ads in cinema halls, posters in trains, and bus shelters. The objective was to ensure that these messages gained top of the mind recall among the target audience.