Identifiable characters, real life situations, cutting-edge animation, and a touch of humor proved a successful mix for the South African “Scrutinize” HIV prevention campaign. The campaign asks youth to scrutinize the risky behaviors that make them vulnerable to HIV. Young adults responded by bestowing a 2009 South African Khuza Award on the campaign, a first for a social marketing campaign competing against big name brands.

Victor is a South African man living in a township. He’s young and charismatic. He’s also animated. Victor is one of the main characters in South Africa’s Scrutinize campaign designed to raise awareness and discussion around HIV risk among youth 18 to 32. Scrutinize uses animated television advertisements, or “animerts” to address the real-life behaviors that put youth at risk for HIV, including condom use and safety, concurrent partners, transactional and intergenerational sex, and alcohol abuse.

The campaign animerts feature Victor, Virginia the Shebeen Queen and other characters with whom young people identify. A study by HDI Youth Marketeers found that young South African urbanites love the humorous, slang-filled adverts and that the ads had a high ‘talkability’ factor. “Scrutinize” aims to raise HIV awareness among young people and equip them with skills to examine their own risky behavior. Already the campaign’s catchphrases, such as "Flip HIV to HI-Victory," are being incorporated into popular culture.

Initiated in 2008 by the Johns Hopkins Health Education in South Africa (JHHESA), jeans label Levi's, and USAID, “Scrutinize” takes a fresh approach to HIV prevention, reaching out to youth through television, but also taking advantage of the Internet and social marketing websites like Facebook. Victor hosts a Facebook page, collecting friends and spurring discussions on how young people can stop putting themselves at risk for HIV. The “Scrutinize” website provides an interactive forum that allows users to post pictures and stories about taking action to stop the spread of the disease.

Marrying new media strategies with proven communication techniques, the “Scrutinize” campaign has trained more than 2,000 peer educators who talk to young people in and out of school about the behaviors highlighted in the animerts. The campaign has also activated ongoing “Scrutinize Live” activities at 10 formerly disadvantaged tertiary institutions.