Abstract:
Abstract: The fight against HIV and AIDS in Kenya has been achieved through
the concerted efforts of government, the media, medical practitioners, religious
groups and the general public. Efforts to combat and manage the impacts of HIV
and AIDS include the development of Information, Education and Communication
materials targeted at adolescents in school. The Kenya government developed
media campaign materials that appeared as advertisements in the local daily
newspapers. This paper describes the images of HIV and AIDS in advertisements
in the print media as seen through the eyes of school-going adolescents. It explains
the multimodal nature of the newspaper advertisements. It entails a Critical
Discourse Analysis of the images of HIV and AIDS in the print media. This paper
provides an interactive sociolinguistic model through which the contradictory
discourses of HIV and AIDS might be understood, drawing from Goffman‟s
insights on stigma management and the presentation of the self in social
interactions. Findings reveal that ambience, body language, colour, gaze, gesture,
graphics and imagery work in complementarity to craft the overall images of HIV
and AIDS. There is general awareness of HIV and AIDS among the youth and
there is need to escalate the fight by highlighting the effects of HIV infection. This
paper is significant to educationists and public health practitioners who will be able
to assess the impact of their efforts in the war against HIV and AIDS.
Keywords: Adolescents, advertisement, discourse, imagery, multimodalities.
