The follow-up of Houtlust has moved to another place with a different name:

http://osocio.org

The follow-up of Houtlust has moved to another place with a different name:

http://osocio.org

Actually nothing. The Houtlust book is closed. No more updates.
No sadness, I will open a new book soon.
This blog will be continued at another place, with another name and much more features.
If you want a reminder when the new blog is live, drop me a mail.
Or follow Houtlust at Twitter or Facebook or the next post here at Houtlust.
And don't forget to check the Houtlust channel at YouTube.

Not since the early days of HIV has the gay community faced the kind of threat that crystal meth has become. Even though meth has been around for a long time, in recent years use of the drug has reached epidemic proportions. Most of us have stories about the harm that meth has caused. Men becoming infected with HIV after sex binges that last days or weeks. Other STDs like syphilis and gonorrhea rising sharply.
Guys losing everything and ending up on the streets. Relationships with partners, friends and family falling apart. Meth has caused some of us to turn violent and abusive. It’s landed some in jail for dealing or stealing or committing other crimes.

In April, agency Better World Advertising posted a billboard in the Castro (gay neighborhood) in San Francisco inviting community ideas about how to deal with the crystal meth problem in San Francisco. Ads soliciting input were also placed in local newspapers. Many people took time to submit their ideas and thoughts through the website and via mail. People sent stories, artwork and songs with a wide variety of viewpoints. Some people advocated harsher punishment for dealers, while others just wanted to be left alone. Many felt meth was an issue in the gay community needed to face up and take responsibility for. Most enforced compassion, harm reduction and empowering messages. Thus, the campaign was formulated with this public input in mind, as well as additional feedback from focus groups and an advisory group representing community members and service agencies.

The goal is to reduce the spread of HIV among men who have sex with men in San Francisco and Boston, to reduce meth use among gay/bi men and to decrease the harm caused by crystal to those who use it. It is funded by the San Francisco Department of Public Health in cooperation with the The Mayor's Task Force on Methamphetamine. Additional funding is from The New Champions Project, a collaboration between Boston's Fenway Institute at Fenway Community Health, The Latin American Health Institute and The Male Center at AIDS Action Committee.

The campaign was art directed by Irvin Lin and components include Wild Postings, Billboards, Bus Shelters, Subway Posters, Transit Interiors, Print Ads, Stickers, Posters, Chalk Dust Sidewalk Stencils, Postcards, Buttons, T-Shirts, Magnets, a presence in the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade, a Website, (designed by Yan Wu) Web Banner Ads, and perhaps most importantly, a "Methifesto" which is downloadable at the Resist Meth website.

Agency Better World Advertising

More pictures at Flickr.


Banners downloadable at the Resist Meth website:






Below: The team at Better World was honored to participate in the 37th annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade in San Francisco. The parade consisted of a march down Market Street to City Hall and featured over 200 contingents, including those representing the newly launched Adoption SF and Resist Meth campaigns.

This e-mailing is made for EMSI (Integral Health Medical Unit). EMSI is a medical centre committed with the development of health programmes in the third world countries. This year, their main attention is focused on the Burkina Faso Project 2007, whose objective is to get funding to buy mosquito nets and eliminate malaria in the African country. This e-mailing intends to make selected recipients aware of the impossibility to fight against the malaria-transmitting mosquitoes.

See the mailing here.

More info about the Burkina Faso Project 2007 here (in Spanish).
See some video's about the work of EMSI here.

Agency: Tiempo BBDO
Creative General Manager: Siscu Molina
Executive Creative Director: Ferran Blanch
Art Director: Gabriel Penalva
Technologies Director: Jordi Tomàs

Direct link to YouTube

Boy: "Warden Uncle, how many colours are there?"
Warden Uncle: "Red, Blue, Yellow. Green..."
Boy: "What does green colour look like?"

This Bronze winner at the Cannes Lions 2007 in the category Film is my absolute favorite. This is art and although it's about blind children this video makes me happy. Film shows a collage of blind school kids playing Holi (the Indian festival of colors). It ends with an appeal to donate one's eyes.
The video is from the Eye Bank Association of India. Their mission is to continuously educate general public about preventing blindness caused due to corneal disorders and wherever cure is required facilitate availability of cornea in the shortest possible time. The Main Objective is to create awareness about eye donation and act as a resource center for all eye banks in India.
67 people (including the creators of this film) have agreed to donate their eyes after seeing this film. The number of donors kept on increasing with every passing week. By the end of the 4th week 1325 people had pledged to donate their eyes.

Executive Creative Director: Raghu Bhat/Manish Bhatt
Creative Director: Raghu Bhat/Manish Bhatt
Copywriter: Manish Bhatt/Raghu Bhat/Gajraj Rao
Art Director: Manish Bhatt/Raghu Bhat/Gajraj Rao
Agency Producer: Subrat Ray
Production Company: Code Red Films, Mumbai India
Director: Gajraj Rao
Producer: Subrat Ray
D.O.P/Lighting Cameraman: Amitabha Singh
Music - Artist/Title: Rajat Dholakia
Other Credits: Lyrics: Gopal Datt

Direct link to YouTube

Every minute a area as big as four soccer fields disappear in the Amazon rainforest. That's why the Dutch department of the World Wildlife Fund (WNF) started a new campaign about deforestation in Brazil. This feel good video is meant to go viral, so spread the word!
Seeding Company: LaComunidad
Production Company: Karma
Copywriter: Danny Smit (Karma)
Art Director: Danny Smit (Karma)
Thanks Paul
Related WNF/Amazon post: WWF campaigning on social networks

Great new statement from Hayan Maani: Triplet Towers.
More work at Hayan Maani's website.

Direct link to YouTube

Although this blog is about communication from and for non-profits and is not meant to make my personal political statements. But it's obvious through the choices of subjects I make what my political color is. The video above definitely doesn't fit into my beliefs but I'm very curious what you think of this video from the American conservative group called Grassfire.

Grassfire.org is asking the Congress to "abandon its reckless amnesty agenda" by opposing the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act. Grassfire.org identifies itself as a "conservative, pro-family and pro-faith" organization comprising "hundreds of thousands of citizens." (...)
Ron De Jong, communications director for Grassfire.org, told that before lawmakers "march on" to the next bill, they need to address last year's bill authorizing a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. "They okayed a 700-mile fence last year, and they have not made good on their word," he said. "There is an agenda underway here to not enforce the borders."
De Jong called it "obscene" that roughly two miles of fencing has been built over the last year. "They really have no intention of building the fence," he said. "Through this ad, we've basically called them out on that."

The "Where's the Fence?" ads feature three elderly ladies searching for - and not finding - the fence Congress pledged to build at the border - a take-off on the 1984 Wendy's hamburger ad campaign featuring actress Clara Peller asking, "Where's the beef?" (See below)

What do you think of this "Where's the Fence?" ad?

(Source: cnsnews.com and Adfreak)


Direct link to YouTube