UPN’s ‘Girlfriends’ To Air AIDS-Related Episode as Part of ‘KNOW HIV/AIDS’ Campaign

The UPN television network tonight will air an HIV/AIDS-related episode of its show "Girlfriends" as part of a year-long awareness campaign sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Viacom, the world's largest media group (KNOW HIV/AIDS release, 5/6). Viacom and the Kaiser Family Foundation in January launched the "KNOW HIV/AIDS" awareness campaign, aimed at raising HIV/AIDS awareness through public service announcements, television and radio programming and free print and online content. The campaign, which has a total ad placement value of $120 million, is targeted at both the general population and groups hardest hit by HIV/AIDS, such as people under age 25, minorities, women and men who have sex with men. The initiative has already created 49 television, radio and outdoor ads that are appearing on Viacom's television networks CBS and UPN and 200 affiliates; cable outlets MTV, BET, VH1, CMT, MTV2, TV Land, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Showtime, TNN and Comedy Central; more than 180 Infinity radio stations; and on billboards, buses and bus shelters (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 5/8). In the upcoming "Girlfriends" episode, the four friends learn that a college friend has contracted HIV from her husband, who is now living with AIDS and who used to date one of the friends. After hearing the news, one of the friends, who is working on a documentary, decides to change the focus of her documentary to address HIV/AIDS, and another one of the friends and her fiance decide to be tested for HIV (Kaiser Family Foundation release, 5/6). The episode is the fourth and final HIV/AIDS-related episode of the show (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 4/14). The program airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT (KNOW HIV/AIDS release, 5/6).