criticism it was too soft.

Mr. Tom Lamont said research showed young Bermudians could not identify with dying AIDS patients.

"They are turned off by that sort of message.'' He said campaign organisers had to find other ways to capture the attention of young people.

Mr. Lamont said a balance also had to be struck between ramming home the message and offending public taste.

Doubt over the impact of the campaign had been raised by Mrs. Hilary Soares, co-ordinator at Agape House, the hospice which cares for AIDS sufferers.

Her comments came at Tuesday's launch of the drive by the Advertising and Publicity Association of Bermuda (APAB).

The push -- targeting 18 to 25-year-olds -- involves television, radio, newspaper and magazine ads.

Posters and AIDS brochures are also to be widely distributed, plugging the message of safe sex through abstinence or using a condom.

Mrs. Soares told how, as a teenager, she had seen a film of emaciated victims in Nazi concentration camps.

The bodies compared with those of AIDS patients -- and were forever imprinted on her mind.

Yesterday Mr. Lamont, chairman of the APAB committee, said the hardness of the campaign had been fully discussed as it was being organised.

Because there was no unanimity, it was decided to get the opinions of young people.

Mr. Lamont said organisers held "group discussions'' in several high schools.

Youngsters were shown a one-hour video featuring talk show host Arsinio Hall and Magic Johnson, the basketball star with HIV, the AIDS virus.

It had proved very successful as youngsters could relate to Johnson.

"More than 100 high school students took part in these sessions, and there was a lot of discussion on what the kids' concerns were,'' said Mr. Lamont.

"Our research basically showed that young people did not want to be associated with dying.

"They are turned off by that sort of message. I think it is a basic advertising principle.

"You can't motivate people to do something which they don't want to do in their gut.

"You have got to be able to create hook ties with some more positive message.'' Mr. Lamont said research also demonstrated young people had many misconceptions about AIDS.

"They did not appreciate that HIV can sit in the body for as long as eight years before becoming full-blown AIDS.

"Many of them could have the virus right now. They were also under the impression AIDS victims were unhealthy.

"That is why one of the ads shows a healthy torso, with the message `someone healthy can have HIV'.'' Mr. Lamont stressed advertising could "only do so much'' as it attempted to drive home a message in a short space of time.

It was up to the community to join in the effort -- and that was why the Education Department was involved, he said.

"Schools, Government, health professionals, and parents all have a role to play,'' he said.

Mr. Lamont also called for "proactive journalism'' to heighten AIDS awareness, and bring home the stark realities of the disease.