genderjustice.org.zaBrothers for Life
“Yenza Kahle (do the right thing)”
South African national campaign launched in August 2009 for men over 30, using TV, billboards and community mobilisation to promote HIV testing, partner reduction, condom use, medical male circumcision and an end to violence against women, under the call 'Yenza Kahle: do the right thing'.
- Years
- 2009–now
- Country
- South Africa
- Topic
- Gender based violenceHIV/STI
- Asks people to
- StartStopTalk to someone
- Strategy
- CelebrityMulti level communitySocial normsTestimonial
- Channel
- EventsOutdoorPrintRadioTV
- Audience
- AdultsMenSouth African men aged 30 and over; later medical male circumcision work also addressed women as partners (the 'Salon' spot)
Evidence
ProcessUnknown
CADRE audience reception study (18 focus groups in all nine provinces, July-August 2011): TV PSAs had the widest reach, then billboards; radio was rarely recalled; the most recalled message was on gender-based violence. Participants self-reported most influence on gender-based violence and less on HIV testing, partner reduction, condom use and alcohol; reach was weaker in rural areas and messages were too often in English. A CADRE post-broadcast evaluation of the MMC 'Salon' spot (Feb 2015-Jul 2016) is qualitative. Joe Public's APEX entry claims knowledge of MMC benefits rose '925%' (agency claim, self-reported). No quantitative outcome evaluation was found.
Sponsor (who paid)
- Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa (JHHESA) Academic, lead and creator
- USAID / PEPFAR Foreign government, funder
- National Department of Health (South Africa) Foreign government, partner
- Sonke Gender Justice NGO, community mobilisation
Credits (who made it)
- Joe Public United Creative, 2012-2017 source
- Mediology Media, 2012-2015 source
- Centre for AIDS Development, Research and Evaluation (CADRE) Research evaluation, 2011-2016 source
- Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP) listed in agency record
Related campaigns
Sources
- Kelly K et al. (CADRE). Brothers for Life campaign: audience reception analysis (summary on The Communication Initiative) evaluation
- CADRE. Post-Broadcast Evaluation of the Brothers for Life Medical Male Circumcision 'Salon' Campaign (2016) evaluation · 2016
- Johns Hopkins CCP: Brothers for Life posts sponsor
- Joe Public United, Brothers for Life MMC drive, APEX 2016 Sustain Bronze (Bizcommunity) archive
- Tinqoh (Ads of the World) archive · 2017
Research notes
Credits fetched from source pages 2026-10-22 (Bizcommunity APEX page; Ads of the World 'Tinqoh'; UNAIDS GPC page via browser). Mediology is named as the client on the APEX entry; it appears to be the media/communications arm working for JHHESA (not verified). The agency for the 2009-2011 launch ads (e.g. the 2010 Patrick Shai anti-violence PSA) was not found. The brand spread to Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Cote d'Ivoire (CCP; the Cote d'Ivoire peer-navigator programme has its own evaluation, Naugle et al. 2020, not covered here). Peltzer et al. 2012 national survey does not report Brothers for Life exposure. 'gender-based-violence' is a new topic id (see report). Merger note: the campaign is run by Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa (JHHESA) with SANAC, NDoH and Sonke; JHU CCP (agencies/johns-hopkins-ccp.json) lists it with role unknown, so CCP is not in credits until its role is confirmed.
Record cases/brothers-for-life.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign