Image analysis of an official campaign against HIV/AIDS in Brazil: A qualitative study

Abstract

Objective: to analyze the image of the posters published by the Brazilian Ministry of Health in the campaign to fight AIDS in carnival, in the light of the perspective of gender studies. Method: qualitative study of image and social media analysis. The posters of the official campaign against AIDS/HIV were performed during Carnival of 2018, based on the steps of Penn’s image analysis. Results: photographs and illustrations of human figures, clothes, carnival props and phrases were identified in the denotative inventory. The photographs occupy a central place and the illustrations occupy the surroundings of the image. Sentences occupy the center and bottom of the image and bring vertical-oriented messages. The topics addressed were the prevention of human immunodeficiency virus. Conclusion: there is an ambiguity of discourses, in which a horizontal-oriented language based on the strategy of combined prevention coexists with a vertical-oriented language expressed in verbs in the imperative.