Celebrities such as Nicole Scherzinger, Paloma Faith, have all shared their support alongside Prince Harry for World Aids Day (which fell yesterday on the 1st of December) by sharing their secrets online as part of a campaign devised by CHI & Partners. The campaign has been funded by the Sentebale charity, which was founded by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to help the vulnerable children in the landlocked South African country where around 40% of the population live below the poverty line. The #FeelNoShame campaign aims to let Aids sufferers know they shouldn't feel ashamed of their illness, and should be using all the energy they would be using to hide it, to fight it!
Celebrities such as Gemma Arterton, Ricky Hatton and Paloma Faith have all shared their support for World Aids Day by sharing their secrets online
The campaign is built around a series of videos made by CHI & Partners and tech company Visual Voice, featuring a range of famous faces including (besides Harry himself) actors Gemma Arterton and Ricky Tomlinson, and professional boxer Ricky Hatton. The videos reveal these celebrities telling secrets to the camera (and by proxy, to the world at large) that they haven't revealed in public before in an effort to let Aids sufferers know that we all have secrets, and it's ok to share them. Whilst the shame felt by these celebrities might not come even close to equalling the shame felt by HIV sufferers across the world, the lighthearted route is a smart move, as it makes the subject more approachable and feel more human.
Gemma Arterton - #FeelNoShame
Secrets revealed include Paloma Faith's admission that she enjoys snooping on other people's social media profiles, Gemma Arterton admitting that she's never seen Star Wars or Back to the Future (disgraceful) and Harry himself disclosing a fear of public speaking.
Prince Harry – Sentebale Call To Action
The first video (above) created by Colin Smith and Angus Vine, had Harry asking the public to join in the campaign and share their own secrets via the Feel No Shame website, where users can use the #FeelNoShame hashtag to help the campaign, and the cause, to spread naturally through social media. Subsequent videos, however, had a range of stars revealing their own secrets and asking viewers to donate through the website and by texting FEEL01 to 70070 followed by an amount of between £1 and £20 to donate to the cause, providing children with HIV and Aids in Lesotho with food, medication and education, as well as all of the support and help they will need in order to lead fulfilling lives in a country that has one of the highest incidences of HIV and Aids in the world, with 38,000 of its children currently HIV-positive according to UN AIDS.
Prince Harry - #FeelNoShame
Prince Harry said that to show their support for the cause, and reduce the stigma attached to the disease, they are attempting to “Turn World Aids Day into a day in which no one should feel any shame about their secrets.” He says the shame felt by those suffering from the disease “Causes thousands of children to needlessly die each year because they're keeping their illness a secret and not getting the medical attention they need,” but believes that “Together, we can tackle the stigma surrounding HIV and give the young people carrying it the childhood they deserve. The childhood so many of us take for granted.”
“Together, we can tackle the stigma surrounding HIV and give the young people carrying it the childhood they deserve. The childhood so many of us take for granted.” Prince Harry
Jonathan Burley, executive creative director at CHI & Partners, believes the campaign acts as a “Powerful, simple vehicle for a very serious message; communication saves lives and HIV sufferers are dying simply because they’re too ashamed to speak up and seek support.” He feels that with #FeelNoShame, they are “Working with hope to spark a long-term shift in how people think about HIV/Aids in the developing world, rejecting the shame and stigma people misguidedly associate with the disease.
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from Kidderminster in the UK who wouldn't even dream of sharing his secrets online. He will, however, be donating a fiver to the cause and thinks you all should too!
