The loveLife Brand (A): Initiating a Behavior Change in South African Youth to Prevent HIV

It launched an integrated marketing initiative consisting of a media campaign and various community outreach initiatives. It also launched a separate campaign targeted at the parents of young children to encourage them to initiate discussions regarding sex, sexuality and gender relations. According to loveLife, its "strategy is premised on the importance of more open communication about sex and sexuality as an essential precondition for sexual behaviour change backed up by comprehensive services and support programs."⁷

The campaign was successful in building strong brand recognition for loveLife among its target audience consisting of youth aged between 12 and 17 years.

Some critics felt that the messages communicated by loveLife in the media were difficult for the target audience to understand. loveLife's use of the English language and expensive media campaigns in a country where many people were illiterate was also questioned by critics. They felt that youth could not be convinced to adopt a positive sexual lifestyle in the same way that they adopted different consumer good brands. Moreover, the campaign's messages and imagery in the outdoor ads were perceived to be very explicit and culturally offensive. In addition to this, some experts had issues with loveLife's dismissive attitude toward other HIV prevention programs and its alleged tendency to project itself as the only program that made a difference.