World Aids Day 2024: How the red ribbon became a global symbol for Aids

Almost 65 years after the world’s first Aids case was documented in Kinshasa in what was then the Belgian Congo, the red ribbon has become the symbol of support for this condition. Celebrities, activists and the common man across the world wear the ribbon to show their solidarity for those afflicted by the disease.

But how was the red ribbon chosen to serve this purpose — how did it become one of the world’s most recognisable symbols and what exactly does it mean?

The Aids crisis

In the mid-’80s, the world was battling a health crisis that no one wanted to talk about; it was Aids . For many at the time, it was known as the ‘gay disease’, because gay men were one of the primary groups afflicted. Many newspapers carried reports of gay men being admitted to hospitals in New York with severely compromised immune systems.

Such was the situation that on May 25, 1983, the New York Times published its first front-page article on Aids. The report had the US government’s top health official saying that the investigation of Aids had become the “No. 1 priority” of the United States Public Health Service.

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It was amidst this crisis that a group of artists, known as Visual Aids — which later grew into a global movement that used art to raise awareness about the disease.

Birth of the Red Ribbon

In 1991, this collective met in New York with the idea of creating a meaningful symbol to show support and compassion for those with AIDS and their caregivers. The artists wanted to get people talking about the illness that was decimating their professional and social network.

As Allen Frame, one of the 12 who was at the meeting told BBC, “Even in New York, we were very aware of how many people couldn’t talk about it, or were oblivious, or were going through it themselves but ashamed to talk about it. We wanted to make people feeling isolated more supported and understood.”

Their inspiration came from the yellow ribbons tied to trees to denote support for the US military fighting the Gulf War. And that’s how the red ribbon was born.

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Tom Sokolowski, one of the founders of Visual Aids recounts how the idea of the red ribbon came about. “I remember, in ’91, during the Kuwait War, I was doing grand jury down in lower Manhattan, so I’d take the subway down. One day, there are all these old duffers on the subway wearing these corsages made of yellow ribbon, because there was that song that goes back many years, ‘Tie the yellow ribbon round the old oak tree’ to show that you had some member of your family in the military. I thought, Maybe we can do something [wearable] in terms of Aids.

“I told the story [at the next meeting], and someone said, ‘We’ll come up with something,’ and at the next meeting, they came back with the red ribbon. I remember a lot of people said, ‘Oh I like that,’ and I said, ‘I think it’s sort of cheesy,’ but everyone went for it.”

They decided on red and rejected pink and rainbow colours because they were too closely associated with the gay community, and, according to them, Aids went well beyond it.

“Red was something bold and visible. It symbolised passion, a heart and love,” said Frame.

They further decided on the ribbon because it was easy to recreate and wear. The original instructions as per Visual Aids were to “cut the red ribbon in six-inch length, then fold at the top into an inverted ‘V’ shape.”

Red Ribbon gains fame

Initially, the red ribbon was restricted to members of Visual Aids and its supporters. However, its big moment came in June 1991 at the Tony Awards. To date, actor Jeremy Irons is credited as being the first celebrity to wear the red ribbon. Others at the awards show also wore the ribbon.

But no one explained the ribbons on air. According to rumours, the network threatened to go to commercial break if anyone tried to talk about Aids. Turns out, this degree of mystery provided some incredibly good press, and the next day, newspapers were buzzing about these mysterious red ribbons and what they meant.

Soon, the red ribbon became renowned as a symbol of Aids and celebrities were seen wearing the red ribbon at the Emmys, the Oscars and the Grammys. Demand increased significantly and Visual Aids had to use a charity working with homeless women to make the ribbons.

In 1992, the red ribbons travelled across the Atlantic and were distributed to all in attendance at an Aids benefit concert in London’s Wembley Stadium for Freddie Mercury , who died of Aids-related bronchial pneumonia a year ago.

Simple and free

According to the creators of the red ribbon, its success can be attributed to its simplicity. The red ribbon took off because of its aesthetic and constructive simplicity. It was easy to make, elegantly understated, and visually arresting.

As Sokolowski told Medium: “We wanted people to be able to do it themselves and for it not to cost something. We imagined that it would need some kind of text explanation, so the first time that we gave them out, we created these little texts, and then we realised — I don’t know at what point — but we realised that the text was superfluous.”

Something interesting about the red ribbon is that it was never trademarked. Some believe that if they did the symbol would not have been embraced so universally. The spirit of the project was that everyone had permission to use it.

Sokolowski speaking on the same was quoted as saying: “We had some discussion about whether we should copyright the ribbon. Enough of us felt that if we did that, there would be all sorts of paperwork, and we wanted the ribbon to go viral — it was metaphorical for HIV, of course, going viral. But if we trademarked, you’d have to ask for permission, so we just said no, this is the kind of ribbon you’d use, this is the kind of pin you use, go and do it.”

And others did. Today, breast cancer is symbolised by the pink ribbon. The US Postal Service also issued a 29 cent Red Ribbon stamp.

Criticism of the Red Ribbon

But as with all things, even the red ribbon symbol has some critics. Some believe that wearing the red ribbon is an easy way out. Some argue that by wearing the red ribbon you can show you care about Aids and people who suffer from it, without having to do anything else.

But the artists behind the red ribbon differ and as Hope Sandrow, an artist and early member of Visual AIDS, said: The red ribbon brought us all together to say, ‘We’re all in it together.’ It didn’t matter that I wasn’t HIV positive. I could still wear the ribbon and identify with the group. It was critically important that we all identified as a group, and that the people that were suffering weren’t singled out. The purpose of the red ribbon was a unifier.”

With inputs from agencies