Ashley Judd uses celebrity influence to fight global HIV/AIDS

With all due respect to Ashley Judd's acting skills, "Confronting the Pandemic" may be the best film she's ever made.

OK, so that's a stretch. But the one-hour documentary on HIV/AIDS prevention in Central America, which airs on World AIDS Day — today — on The Learning Channel, is undoubtedly the most important.

Judd and friend Salma Hayek travel from the brothels of Guatemala to soap-opera sets in Nicaragua as the two actresses use their celebrity to focus attention on the world's most infamous disease.

Even if you find it sappy and somewhat stilted, you'll likely agree that the ends justify the means.

Judd is the goodwill ambassador for YouthAIDS, a nonprofit, grass-roots organization that preaches HIV/AIDS prevention to young adults around the world.

Last year, she traveled to Africa and kept a running online diary about her experiences. This year, she opted to tour Latin America, a region that has remained on the periphery of the epidemic thus far.

Her reasoning was both pragmatic and illuminating. Judd sees the horrid economic conditions and gender inequality common in Latin America as a perfect breeding ground for the disease, and she hopes to use her influence to avert a downward spiral.

"Rather than creating the sense that 'Oh, there's not a problem,' or 'We don't need to focus our attention there,' it should be the reverse," Judd said. "It should be this mighty, overwhelming call to action, that we go in there and flood the area with effective and balanced prevention programs.

"Prevention is the only hope we have in averting Africa-scale crisis in other parts of the world."

YouthAIDS and synergy

Judd got involved in YouthAIDS four years ago after a call from founder Kate Roberts, a former ad exec who wanted to use the power of advertising against HIV/AIDS.

As Roberts put it, her job entailed "selling bubble gum and cigarettes to 12-year-olds." But during an AIDS-related project in Romania, she realized the potential synergy of social marketing and disease prevention, so Roberts quit her job and founded a company that used the same tactics to fight the disease. And that meant incorporating celebrities.

Judd had received a plea from Bono the same week to join him in speaking out against AIDS, and she couldn't ignore the coincidence.

"That seemed like a pretty obvious God deal," Judd said.

Brand recognition

Judd and Roberts believe one of the keys to successful prevention is brand recognition, for better or worse.

While in Africa, YouthAIDS conducted an experiment to figure out how to distribute aid most effectively. Two identical products were packaged differently — one was distributed for free and the other was branded and sold. The more popular choice was painfully obvious.

"There was a pervasive sense that [the free product] was very inferior, if not flawed," Judd said. "And it was the same thing. It's all about brand consciousness. ... When we tripled the price of some of our lifesaving medical goods, our sales tripled as well."

Another example: "Market research shows that lower-income people would choose to skip a meal and instead have their hair braided a certain way," Judd said. So Roberts decided to educate hairdressers in low-income areas about prevention and teach them to spread the message to their clients — a humanitarian spin on product placement.

"Women gossip at the beauty shop wherever they are," Judd said.

Idol influence

Of course, the world's poorest people aren't the only ones swayed by branding and celebrity. In "Confronting the Pandemic," photographers and journalists swarm Judd and Hayek in Guatemala City, and she's not ashamed to highlight their importance.

"Wherever we go, the press is there," Judd says in the film. "And this is critical to our mission because stories about YouthAIDS programs promote tolerance and combat stigma."

It also lands people like Judd in magazines and newspapers where they otherwise wouldn't be. (Consider the story you're reading now.) But even though humanitarian efforts like Judd's visit to Central America or Angelina Jolie's U.N. crusades can appear to be self-serving, the situation is win-win for everyone involved.

The stars accrue cred, the victims and potential victims receive unprecedented attention, the media get a story, and readers and viewers learn more about the injustices that plague a huge portion of the planet.

The one problem with all this — and it's a minor one — is that it feeds the notion that we need celebrities to tell us what to do.

Ashley Judd is extremely passionate and informed about YouthAIDS, and her enthusiasm is contagious. She deserves credit for the goodwill she's spreading in dilapidated areas around the world.

But should she be the reason you choose to donate money or volunteer on World AIDS Day?

Then again, does it matter?