Public opinion about AIDS before and after the 1988 U.S. government public information campaign

In October, 1987, the Centers for Disease Control mounted a massive public information campaign to alert the public to the dangers of AIDS and to provide information about its transmission and prevention. Using data from two Gallup surveys, one just before the campaign began and the other several months after its conclusion, we examine changes in public information and misinformation about transmission, in concern about AIDS as an epidemic, and in reported behavior to avoid exposure to AIDS. We conclude that although some changes in knowledge did take place, these were essentially a continuation of trends beginning before the public information campaign and continuing well after its conclusion. For these and other reasons, we argue that the effects of the campaign on public information were minimal. However, between 1987 and 1988 there was a small but statistically significant increase in reported condom use, an increase paralleled by increased condom sales between 1986 and 1988. In addition, there was a substantial increase in the number of people expressing concern about AIDS as an epidemic for the population at large. The campaign may well have contributed to both of these changes.