It appears I missed this stunning anti-HIV commercial, brought to you courtesy of the Bloomberg administration. If you want to watch it, by all means; but I'm not posting it here.

And here's why: the mission of the commercial is to raise awareness of health issues related to HIV, that is, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, which causes Aids. That's all very well and good; wrap it up and stay healthy.

Where the commercial - paid for by your tax dollars - crosses the line is in its conflation of HIV and HPV. The difference is more than a letter; HPV, Human Papilomavirus, is a whole different can of worms that, in 90% of cases per the CDC, does not result in anything, because your body's immune system deals with it. It can cause cancer, however, which is why you can get vaccinated for it. Not a bad idea per se, because it's quite widespread.

So far so good, right? Wrong. The City's commercial is, frankly, repulsive. It has, and I apologize for the bluntness, a still of anal cancer. That's right: butt cancer. Which you don't get from HIV.

Roughly one hundred thousand New Yorkers live with HIV. It is a treatable disease. They do not need to be stigmatized by their own government with commercials like this. There are better ways, more, shall we say, appropriate ways, to raise awareness.