NZHF and Motion Sickness push to make NZ stigma-free for herpes

AUCKLAND, Today: The New Zealand Herpes Foundation (NZHF) has partnered with Motion Sickness, FINCH, ED.l, DigPR, and TRA to launch a bold behaviour-change campaign aiming to reach a significant milestone for Aotearoa.

Unveiled on Global Herpes Awareness Day, the campaign confronts the virus’s worst issue: social stigma. Pop culture, misinformation, and the reluctance to talk openly about sex have worsened this stigma for many.

Although up to 80% of Kiwis will contract oral or genital herpes in their lifetime, new research from TRA shows New Zealand has one of the highest herpes stigma rates globally. Thousands experience shame from this mostly harmless virus.

According to the NZHF, 30% of New Zealanders diagnosed with herpes have experienced depressive or suicidal thoughts, largely due to stigma rather than the medical symptoms themselves.

“In many cases, the social stigma is much more damaging than the virus. We have fielded thousands of calls to our support helpline, with many people having received a diagnosis in deep distress.” – Claire Hurst

To fight this, the campaign features well-known Kiwis like Sir Ashley Bloomfield, Sir Graham Henry, Sir Buck Shelford, Angella Dravid, and Mea Motu, leading the ‘Herpes Destigmatisation Course,’ a humorous, accessible way to educate people.

“In many cases, the social stigma is much more damaging than the virus. We have fielded thousands of calls to our support helpline, with many people having received a diagnosis in deep distress.

“However, the reason for this psychological impact is sometimes not the medical symptoms – it’s the stigma. We have tried to land a stigma-breaking campaign for over 20 years and have never managed to crack it.

“We are simply floored by this campaign and couldn’t be happier with how it has navigated this challenging topic and made it approachable, Kiwi, and fun. Thank you to Motion Sickness and the wider team, let’s claim the title,” says Claire Hurst NZRN, QSM, Founding Trustee for NZHF and current Helpline Counsellor.

“We are simply floored by this campaign and couldn’t be happier with how it has navigated this challenging topic and made it approachable, Kiwi, and fun.” – Claire Hurst

Independent insights agency TRA surveyed 10 OECD countries to create a Herpes Stigma Index, ranking the level of stigma globally. Spain ranked first, with the lowest stigma, while New Zealand placed 9th.

The website features a live leaderboard to motivate Kiwis to watch the educational videos and help the country climb the stigma rankings. Each view helps reduce stigma and boosts New Zealand’s score.

As the campaign notes, “With a little education, we can become the number one nation.” Since launching, New Zealand has already moved from 9th to 8th, but there’s more work ahead.

To track real progress, TRA will run a post-campaign survey in the same countries to see if there’s been a tangible shift in stigma.

In just 4 days, the campaign generated over 5000 video views and 1.2 million social media views, with 152,897 engagements. It’s already reached 565,728 unique Kiwis, and Google searches for ‘herpes’ have spiked since launch.

CREDITS

Campaign Sponsors
Whānau Ora
Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa
Sexually Transmitted Infections Education Foundation

Agency – Motion Sickness
Executive Creative Director: Sam Stuchbury
General Manager: Alex McManus
Head of Strategy: Hilary Ngan Kee
Creative Director: Melina Fiolitakis
Senior Creative: Will Macdonald
Intermediate Creative: Freddy Riddiford
Social Content Editor: Jolin Lee
Social Lead: Roxy Allnutt
Head of Production: Joseph McAlpine
Senior Designer: Hamish Steptoe
Artworker: Moana Peterson
Strategy: Chelsea Knowles
Account Director: Joe Fraei
Media: Ella Liddell, Shannon O’Connell, Dom Meehan
Archive Sourcing & Radio Concepts: Sophie Douglas, Freddie von Trott

Production – FINCH
Director: Alex Roberts
Managing Director/Executive Producer: Corey Esse
Executive Producer: Rebekah ‘Bex’ Kelly
Producer: Duncan Bernard
DOP: Marty Williams
Production Designer: Joseph Leary
Wardrobe Stylist: Olivia Dobson
Post House: Atticus
Post Producer: Jadon Miller
Editor: Luka Turjak
Editor: Julian Currin
Colourist: Pete Ritchie
Lead VFX artist: Stu Bedford
Sound: Big Pop Studios
DOP (Ashley Bloomfield video): Devan Narsai
2D Animator: Marcin Sulewski

Web Development – ED 
Creative Director: Elliot Schultz
Design: Jeremy Ward
Strategy: Chris Ames
Developer: Mike Wojo
Project Manager: Lucien Jankelson

Research – TRA
Head of Strategy: Carl Sarney
Managing Partner: Shaun Fitzgibbon
Account Lead: Alice Oliver

PR – DigPR
Leni Ma’ia’i
Daniel Smith

Thanks to our Media Sponsors
TikTok
VMO
Beacon
VAST
JCD
oOh!
Shout
Lumo
Giggle
Jolt
GoMedia
Phantom
Hyper
Cartel
Stuff
YouTube
NZME
Trade Me
MediaWorks