Raising awareness about the chronic nature of the disease
- Creative
- Strategy
- Production
- Video
“We wanted people suffering from obesity—those who have exhausted all their options and find themselves isolated in this situation—to understand that it’s a chronic illness. To ensure the message’s effectiveness, we also needed to engage health care professionals, encouraging them to consider medical therapy to respond to this condition.”
The management of obesity is often tinged with stigma and guilt. Even within the health care profession, the prevailing belief remains that the solution to obesity is simply eating less and exercising more. However, with the recent adoption of new guidelines—officially recognizing obesity as a chronic disease—the project’s value has been further strengthened.
Changing the narrative
Finding the right tone proved a challenge, given the polarization around the subject and the consequences of obesity exposed by the medical field. A review of research and several meetings with patients came down to “It’s not your fault.” A simple yet powerful message to help people affected by this condition free themselves from the burden of guilt. An effective piece of communication that is helping health care professionals become more aware of the disease and its treatment options.
A success on multiple fronts
The main objective was to encourage patients and health care professionals to become more familiar with drug therapies. To achieve this, the message directed individuals to an information-rich website. During and after its release, visits to this page grew remarkably and a marked increase in prescriptions was observed, even though the drug was not explicitly named.
The campaign alone generated a significant improvement in overall category performance and positively influenced the general perception of treatments associated with obesity.
