Pos or Not

mtvU and Kaiser carried out a multifaceted on-the-ground, on-air, and online campaign to build a broad supportive community for Pos or Not. The campaign was launched in coordination with mtvU's spring concert tour, Campus Invasion Music Festival. Modelled after the online concept HotOrNot.com, Pos or Not asks players to decide whether they think a person is HIV positive or not, based only on his or her photograph and a few personal details. By showing that you cannot tell a person's HIV-status by the way he or she looks, the game hopes to confront stereotypes about who is affected by HIV/AIDS and to offer young people a more personal understanding of the disease. Pos or Not emphasises that HIV affects everyone and that the only way to truly know your own or some else's HIV status is by getting tested.

According to organisers, major US artists and celebrities have lent their names to help stoke the online viral spread of Pos or Not. Eight public service ads (PSAs) featuring different game participants aired widely on television across the MTV Network. Short promotional videos featuring musicians were also shot during the Campus Invasion tour and were aired on mtvU during the concert series. The reach of the game continues to exist online, as users link to the game and one another through the Pos or Not website, banner ads, and MySpace and Facebook profile pages and widgets.

HIV/AIDS.

According to organisers, in the US, more than a million people are estimated to be living with HIV and, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in four of them do not know their status. More new HIV infections occurred among adolescents and young adults 13–29 years old (34%) than any other age group in 2006, yet more than half of 18–25 year-olds say HIV doesn’t really concern them. Lack of information and stigma remains a major barrier to prevention and testing. Although the CDC recommends routine HIV screening for all American teens and adults, many Americans do not get tested because they do not think they are at risk.

"Pos or Not" was inspired by the winners of the "Change the Course of HIV Challenge," a nationwide competition that asked college students to propose a viral, web-based game that would creatively engage people to help combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. The winning concept was submitted by a team from the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy.

Pos or Not received a Beacon Award in 2009 in New Media.