NEW YORK—“There’s an AIDS crisis in America, and no one seems to be talking about it,” said Michael Franzini, executive director of the nonprofit group Pubic Interest. Last Thursday, Franzini took center-stage in Herald Square, flanked by a 10 foot television screen and a 100-strong crowd of eager onlookers, to launch the new “I KNOW” AIDS awareness campaign he is championing.

For the last month, Franzini has been directing a massive marketing campaign in the New York area. His trademark image, an eye within a pyramid covering a black sun, has been popping up in many places around New York City. “As far as I know, no one’s made coins before as part of a campaign,” he said of the 250,000 coins he had minted to promote the program.

The coins resemble pennies, but showcase the I KNOW image, and have been handed out around Manhattan. Some 380,000 stickers, 4,000 ribbons, various street artists, and even the Times Square jumbotron have been employed in making the I KNOW logo catch the curiosity of local youth. Last Thursday, Franzini finally explained to everyone what his imagery was all about.

“AIDS is definitely a problem. I want to raise awareness [about this]. There is not enough action being taken,” said Fredrick McCormick, 23, a New York actor, and I KNOW supporter.

Over 100,000 condoms have been donated to the cause, Franzini boasts, and stores with the I KNOW logo will give out condoms for a penny to those aware of the program.

The I KNOW Web site, www.iknow.tv, claims that it tells “All of the facts, not just the ones that they want you to know.” The Web site promotes “comprehensive sex ed,” and decries approaches which focus on abstinence as a primary method of AIDS prevention, citing various studies.

While supporting the campaign to give greater coverage to the AIDS epidemic among youth, Leslie J. Unruh disagrees with this I KNOW premise. Unruh is President and Founder of the Abstinence Clearinghouse, a secular non-profit group which “promotes the appreciation for and practice of sexual abstinence through distribution of age-appropriate, factual and medically-accurate materials,” according to its Web site, www.abstinence.net.

“They’re still going down the same route they’ve gone before,” said Unruh in a phone interview. Instead, Unruh contends, there is a “whole new generation of youth that want authenticity, they want what works, and are tired of treating symptoms not the cause.”

According to Unruh, numbers from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention show that youth are getting the message, and are engaging in less and less promiscuous sexuality.

According to Unruh’s data, “Youth are looking for real intimacy, not the false kind,” and are eager to learn about the value of long-term relationships that focus on more than just physicality.

“It’s time to stop treating youth like animals in heat...all they need is the right information,” she says, adding, “The mind is the most important sex organ.”

Assemblymember Scott Stringer’s 2003 report lambastes the state of HIV/AIDS education in NYC schools. With more than half of AIDS cases in the United States being people under 25, as Faranzini contends, youth are the key group that should be targeted in AIDS awareness campaigns. On this point, at least both Faranzi and Unruh can agree. They look forward to a time when every youth in the country can say, “I know.”