Background: This was a population-based study to examine whether the campaign for World AIDS Day 2005 in Iran was suc­cessful.
Methods: A random sample of the general population was asked whether they had seen the campaign and knew the mes­sage. They were also asked whether it was attractive; there was anything offensive, whether the campaign could raise aware­ness, and how they rated the campaign. In all 1215 individuals were approached and 1014 agreed to take part in the study.
Results: Only 43% (n= 435) said that they had seen the campaign. Of those who had seen the campaign 79% knew the sub­ject and 24% acknowledged the main message correctly. Only 27% said it was very attention getting or eye-catching, 64% said the campaign could raise awareness but 75% said the message was unclear, and confusing. A few respondents (23%) rated that the campaign overall looked good or very good.
Conclusion: The findings suggest that if the World AIDS Day is an opportunity to give visibility to the problem, then there is an urgent need to think seriously to choose other approaches for raising global awareness on the state of the epidemic in Iran and elsewhere.