TV & VIDEO - April 7, 1987

Calls from angry parents flooded Sydney television stations’ switchboards after the screening Sunday night of a 60-second commercial depicting AIDS as a bowling Grim Reaper, felling victims like tenpins. The prime-time television blitz signaled the start of the Australian government’s $2-million media campaign to educate the public on the dangers of the killer disease. Elizabeth Hayes, commentator on Channel 9’s “Today Show,” said the station’s switchboard lit up with calls from irate parents who complained “their children were going to bed screaming.” Other TV channels reported similar calls.