State-funded program reaches out with superhero messages

No one is actually superhuman. But there are plenty of super heroes.

That’s the incredibly hulking theme of this year’s CAMPsafe Program, funded by Delaware Division of Public Health and operated out of the CAMP Rehoboth office.

It’s fantasy versus reality in a stunning new social outreach campaign targeting men who have sex with men in Eastern Sussex County.

Think you’re on vacation so anything goes? Think again. Safer sex practices must go with you for your beach holiday.

And this year’s CAMPsafe campaign uses original comic book artwork, superheroes and creative copy to get that message across. Using the hot new genre of comic book street art (some would call it "low brow" art, but there is nothing unsophisticated about it—the artwork is incredibly complex and creative) the 2007 CAMPsafe program features postcards and other material featuring Mr. Invincible and Captain Quicksilver, two of the four campaign heroes.

The message is simple: You may be super, but you are not invincible. The fantasy may be that that you are in for a hot super hero time, but the reality is that being super means being safer.

CAMP Rehoboth’s Sal Seeley is the director of the CAMPsafe program and every year he works with marketing mavens Sondra Arkin and Mary Beth Ramsey to come up with a unique, eye-popping and effective campaign to remind people about being safe.

For years these creative folks used incredibly gorgeous, hot models to catch the eyes of vacationing guys. There were postcards, posters, ads and handouts featuring handsome volunteers who were made legendary at the annual professional photo shoots.

This year, with comic illustrations the trend, CAMPsafe and its crew worked with a Seattle company that publishes gay comic books and came up with some pretty magnificent images.

With the campaign just being launched, CAMPsafe volunteers are set to distribute at least

20,000 condom and lube packets at B&Bs and bars around town and thousands more condoms in jars at sites where they might spark a reminder about safety and responsibility. A whole lot of extra lube packets are distributed too, making it obvious that this is an…um… well-oiled campaign. And the message of the incredibly buff action figures on all the materials is simple: play safe.

And you won’t have to go far to see the CAMPsafe volunteers doing their social outreach. There are tables at all the big dance events in town, and CAMPsafe tents on Poodle Beach and at North Shores.

"It’s amazing," says Sal Seeley, "at first no one will come by the tent on the beach, but then if one or two curious folks come up to the tent and then report to their friends that we have plenty of give-aways, we wind up with a line."

Although this current super hero campaign is heavy on social outreach, CAMPsafe is also a program that provides counseling, case management for HIV-positive people and the new rapid HIV testing. The numbers of men (the majority gay, but some straight as well) have tripled in the past year as word of mouth gets around: CAMP Rehoboth is a safe,

non-judgmental place to be tested.

Along with the numbers of people served by the program over the years, the grant amount has increased as well. What started off as a $23,000 program is now a $70,000 grant program with many more services and people taking advantage of those services.

Seeley makes sure to point out that this CAMPsafe program does not duplicate services provide by the Sussex County AIDS Council. "They handle cases by providing a food bank, transportation for people to go to doctors, and many other day-to-day services. We concentrate heavily on the social outreach prevention message." Both groups work well together and between them provide an incredible list of services for the currently HIV positive population as well as working towards prevention of HIV infection transmission. CAMPsafe is targeting the HIV positive population with safety messages in an effort to keep the virus from spreading.

While the program is certainly geared towards men who have sex with men (and is funded by state funds for that population), outreach volunteers also reach the straight and lesbian communities. They distribute information, condoms and latex female condoms as well.

So how did this creative crew go about getting these hot images designed?

"Well, we had very tight guidelines. After all, the materials had to be approved by the state," says Sondra Arkin. "We asked for hunky heroes, dressed a certain way, open shirts, on the beach, etc." The state coordinators for the program at Delaware Public Health quickly gave the materials the go-ahead.

The Rehoboth program has set a precedent for high quality production values on their printed materials and Seeley has been around the country, consulting with other programs, where Rehoboth gets high marks for its creativity and tone.

In addition to the safer sex message this year, Seeley, Ramsey and Arkin made sure that Rehoboth added the message "drugs and alcohol impair judgment."

"We’re doing everything we can to keep our local residents and visitors safe," Seeley says.

For more information about this program, call 227-5620 or drop by the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center on Baltimore Avenue to check out the cool postcards, giveaways and even cooler message: Play safe.