Tinder And Grindr Are Targets Of New Sexual Health Billboard Campaign
An AIDS charity has released a controversial billboard campaign in LA that says if you use Tinder or Grindr, you should get checked for an STD.
The campaign, by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), was launched in Los Angeles last week to raise awareness about the rising STD rates in a time where the popularity of hookup apps is surging.
The campaign wants to remind dating app users of the potential sexual health risks associated with casual sexual encounters, for both heterosexual and homosexual individuals.
It does so by referring to arguably the two most popular mobile dating apps out there, Tinder and Grindr, which both have a name as being used for casual encounters.
AHF President Michael Weinstein said: “Mobile dating apps are rapidly altering the sexual landscape by making casual sex as easily available as ordering a pizza.
“In many ways, location-based mobile dating apps are becoming a digital bathhouse for Millennials wherein the next sexual encounter can literally just be a few feet away–as well as the next STD.
“While these sexual encounters are often intentionally brief or even anonymous, sexually transmitted diseases can have lasting effects on an individual’s personal health and can certainly create epidemics in communities at large.
“We want to send a strong message that sexually active adults–especially young people–should think twice about who they’re hooking up with.”
For evidence of this emerging hookup culture, the AHF pointed to recent articles such as the infamous Vanity Fair feature this year, along with a study by the Rhode Island Department of Health, who reported in May that cases of syphilis, gonorrhoea and HIV have risen significantly between the years 2013 and 2014.
The report said that contributing factors such as using social media to arrange casual and often anonymous sexual encounters have become increasingly more common in recent years.
The AHF is the largest global AIDS organisation, and currently provides medical care and services to over 470,000 people in 36 countries worldwide.
