Subject: Converse Airs AIDS Message Without "Magic"
Date: Published: 1/2/92 (45 lines)
Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc.

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    By Mark Robichaux
    Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

[113 lines irrelevant to AIDS removed.  -- sysop]

    Converse Airs AIDS Message
    Sneaker company Converse is breaking the first of a series
 of ads tonight to promote AIDS education, a move it promised
 to make after Converse endorser Earvin "Magic" Johnson
 revealed he was infected with the virus that causes AIDS last
 November.
    Mr. Johnson himself doesn't appear in the 30-second spot,
 created by Boston agency Ingalls, Quinn & Johnson.  Instead,
 three other Converse endorsers from the basketball world --
 Phoenix Sun Kevin "KJ" Johnson, Charlotte Hornet Larry
 Johnson and University of Kentucky coach Rick Pitino --
 discuss how Magic Johnson's announcement affected them.  The
 ads will break on NBC-TV's sitcom "Different World" and
 Fox-TV's "Beverly Hills, 90210."
    The spot doesn't mention condoms or safe sex.  It ends with
 the statement "You Can Get AIDS" and the number for the
 Centers for Disease Control's national AIDS hotline.  A
 Converse spokeswoman said that strategy fit with the one
 suggested by the CDC.  "We're not preaching what to do, or
 what not to do," she said.
    Converse, a unit of Interco, is supporting the
 public-service campaign with $1 million.  Television stations
 can also air the spots for free, as public-service
 announcements.  The company said it would release more AIDS
 announcements this year, as well as a Converse commercial
 starring Magic Johnson and Boston Celtic Larry Bird in
 support of the U. S. Olympic basketball team.

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