Kissing Doesn't Kill: Greed and Indifference Do.

June - December, 1989
New York City Buses
Photo © 1989 Aldo Hernandez

KISSING DOESN'T KILL: GREED AND INDIFFERENCE DO was a political art action manipulating advertising and media strategies to reach a broad audience with information about AIDS and the issues surrounding it. The project took place in two parts. The first was a large mailing of a postcard image of three kissing couples of mixed race and sex with the words "Kissing Doesn't Kill: Greed and Indifference Do." The back of the card read "Corporate Greed, Government Inaction and Public Indifference Make AIDS a Political Crisis." The image was designed to look much like a well known clothing industry ad campaign. The second part of the project was the production of the image and rejoinder as a 12 x 3 foot full color poster mounted on dozens of New York City buses. The poster was also prominently featured in the Whitney Museum exhibition "Media World". The poster has also been seen on buses in San Francisco and Chicago, as part of Art Against AIDS: On the Road.

Gran Fury is a collective of AIDS activists retaliating against government and social institutions that make those living with AIDS invisible. Through visual address, they seek to inform a broad public and provoke direct action to end the AIDS crisis. Gran Fury manipulates sophisticated advertising strategies to render complex issues understandable, and to reach an audience not often addressed by governmental and media information.