The Alzheimer's Association is introducing its first paid campaign, intended to educate the US public about the disease that threatens to overwhelm the Medicare system as the baby boom population ages.
The campaign, by two agencies, includes US$8 million worth of magazine and online advertising, a new Web site (actionalz.org) and initiatives by local association chapters. The goal is to persuade 5 million people in the US to become "champions" in the fight against Alzheimer's, one for every person who now has the disease.
The campaign was praised by experts in the disease, one of whom said it would help the Chicago-based association catch up with other groups' educational efforts.
The association "has fundamentally been interested in supporting scientific research and looking for a cure, and they've therefore been behind in public education," said Kenneth Minaker, chief of the geriatric medicine unit at Massachusetts General Hospital.
"We're delighted they're turning their energies to this huge need," he added, "and expect they will do a very good job."
Angela Geiger, vice president for constituent relations for the association, said it has primarily "focused on care and support for people going through the disease as well as research."
"It is time for us to step up our efforts to educate the public to do something now," she added.
Alzheimer's "has escalated into an epidemic," Geiger said, citing statistics showing that a new diagnosis is made every 72 seconds and that by 2050, 16 million people in the US will have the disease.
"It will overwhelm Medicare in less than 25 years unless scientists find a way to cure or prevent it," Geiger said.
The campaign is vital, she added, because most people in the US are ignorant about Alzheimer's.
A survey released by the association on Monday found that although almost half of those in the US say they know someone who has the disease, 94 percent said they do not know much about it.
Nearly nine out of 10 people in the US do not know it is a leading cause of death, the survey showed.
However, Alzheimer's is the seventh leading cause of death, according to the Centers for Disease Control, developing in one in eight people after age 65 and one in two after age 85.
Each of the three print ads in the campaign, created by TG Madison of Atlanta, features a blurry sepia photograph of a person with Alzheimer's over which is superimposed text in bold type, some in purple, the association's official color.
One ad depicts a man holding his chin in his hand and saying: "Someone suffering from Alzheimer's will lose the ability to form thoughts, remember simple words and ultimately communicate. You can be their voice. Alzheimer's is the seventh leading cause of death in the US. It's time to speak up."
Another ad says: "Many Alzheimer's sufferers will slowly lose control of their bodies. They need you to move their cause forward."
The third ad says: "As their brains continue to shrink, people with Alzheimer's will feel trapped in their own minds. They need you to open everyone else's."
The ads urge readers to "Take action against Alzheimer's. Go to actionalz.org," a site created by Undisclosed Location, an agency in Chicago.
John Carter, executive creative director of TG Madison, said his agency wanted the ads to be "A little bit in your face. We wanted readers to sit back and think there really is a big problem, that something needs to be done. The visuals illustrate the emotions of what Alzheimer's sufferers go through."
Geiger said the value of the media used in the campaign is US$8 million, but the association's actual spending is less. TG Madison negotiated discounts for the nonprofit, particularly with Time Warner magazines and Web sites. Previous campaigns for the association ran as public service ads, on a pro bono basis.
The print ads are running in magazines like AARP The Magazine, Newsweek, Parade and Time.
There are also online ads on Web sites like AOL.com, MSN.com, oprah.com and prevention.com.
The campaign also includes a traveling photography and video exhibit featuring more than 30 celebrities.
Among them are David Hyde Pierce, Dick Van Dyke, Peter Gallagher, Kate Burton and Olympia Dukakis.
Also, Ch. Felicity's Diamond Jim, the dog that won this year's Westminster Dog Show, is featured in the exhibit; the English springer spaniel, known colloquially as James, does therapy work with Alzheimer's patients.
All the celebrities wear purple clothes that bear the word "voice," "move" or "open."
"I hope the campaign will raise awareness of what the disease is, what the threat is, so people will put pressure on Congress [to increase financing]", said Hyde Pierce, a member of the association's board who has testified in Washington and is the campaign's spokesman.
David Shenk, author of The Forgetting: Alzheimer's: Portrait of an Epidemic, said:"Researchers are very optimistic they can make very significant progress against the disease in the near future. There is a window of opportunity here. It is so depressing the federal government is not stepping up to the plate."
He also suggested the campaign could help dispel the taboo that surrounds discussion of the disease.
"We're talking about a subject that is still in many respects taboo to discuss," he said. "It's a terrifying disease; most people don't understand it very well. We're naturally afraid of things we don't understand. The better people can understand Alzheimer's, the better are our chances of breaking through the taboo."
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