#010 · 24 September 2023

Hi hi hi!

It feels like it’s been a wee while since I last sat down at the keyboard to type an issue of CULTURx. The reality is that it hasn’t been that long, more a lot has happened. Ibiza of course, pitches at work, but mainly that I have had COVID.

Ooosh, and has it hit me hard! A good five days lying horizontal and experiencing waves of exhaustion on par with the first trimester of pregnancy. That’s what you get for forgetting that COVID is a thing, I guess. At least I got to binge through One Piece on Netflix. Oh, and if I had a pound for everyone that implied I caught it in Ibiza/on the plane, I’d have enough cash to buy a pretty decent bottle of wine.

Speaking of wine, yesterday evening I FINALLY got to give Aldi’s dupe of celebrity fave rosé Whispering Angel a go. I am not raving about it to be honest, but I have no benchmark because I’m not about to spend over £20 on a bottle of wine when I know you can get a good one for under a tenner in the UK… not sure this one proved the point. But hand me a bottle of sub-£10 Marlborough and I’ll be happy.

Anyway, did you see, that this is issue 010? OMG! Thanks so much for joining me on the journey so far and for all your support. That (and finally starting to feel somewhat COVID-freeish normality) is a reason to raise a glass.

À votre santé, and let’s jump in!

Perhaps the biggest healthcare news to come out of the UK over the past couple of weeks is the introduction of “Martha’s Rule” across NHS England. The rule ensures that hospital patients in England know that they have the right to a second opinion about their care. It follows the campaign efforts of the mother of Martha Mills, who tragically died of sepsis. Martha’s parents had raised concerns about excessive bleeding following an accident, which were dismissed as normal.

The news has really got me thinking about the brands I work on (regardless of whether it’s medical devices or drugs). The briefs, brand strategies, product positionings, you name it, that land on my desk often contain language like ‘patient-first’ and ‘patient-centric’. Whilst that approach might be true internally, how much are brands thinking about how this is delivered in reality, when products, drugs and devices are in the hands of healthcare professionals?

The NHS’s medical director has said that different hospitals may need different approaches to Martha’s Rule. If there’s no standard way for patients to play an active role in their healthcare decisions, this makes it tricky for brands to advocate for patient centricity. What is communicated and resonates for one HCP, hospital or trust may not for another.

What the rule has highlighted to me, is that there’s a bigger role for patient centricity in healthcare comms. Not just a thing we say, but a critical strategic imperative to any brand plan. One that has a variety of tactics to play out to meet the diverse needs across different healthcare systems.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the breaking news was that a popular decongestant used in OTC cold and flu medicines is basically useless. Just what we want to hear moving into the colder months, eh!? But just to be clear, this is just one ingredient – phenylephrine (fen-il-EF-reen), and the FDA panel unanimously agreed that it is ineffective. And there has been growing evidence over the years that it doesn’t work, a fact that the general public hasn’t overlooked either.

Consumers might be surprised to see that products like Sudafed, Benadryl, and Tylenol can still be found on shelves this winter. First, the FDA needs to agree with the vote, and then go through the administration process to withdraw phenylephrine from the market. Then, any product that contains phenylephrine and claims that it is a decongestant would be misleading and need to be removed from the market. But as there doesn’t appear to be any immediate safety risk, the FDA cannot use any emergency powers to pull the product.

Sadly, it’s stories like that that fuel distrust in pharmaceutical industries and it raises a serious question, how can an ineffective ingredient like this, be found in so many products? The simple answer is that it is just very old, reaching the market before the substantial evidence required for today’s drug approvals came into place. But this can apply to so many other products and ingredients too. For now, expect to see quite a shake-up in the OTC cold and flu space as manufacturers race to reformulate and more importantly rebuild trust amongst sniffly, sneezy, germy consumers.

That’s right, laxatives are having quite the cultural moment in the States, so much so that their soaring demand is leading to a national shortage. I love this quote in the piece from Dr. George Pavlou, head of the Gastroenterology Associates of New Jersey:

It really is like a weird perfect storm of factors that could be contributing. An ageing population, the pandemic (obvs), the end of the pandemic (obvs)… but perhaps the most surprising factor to me, is the shortage of the skinny jab (such as Ozempic). Laxatives, in the past, have been a staple in weight loss trends and disordered eating. And now TikTok is playing a big role in reestablishing laxatives in diet culture.

It's a shame that yet again, TikTok is at the centre of health misinformation. Effortlessly spreading harmful advice from individuals without formal medical training, putting people at risk. Why can’t it be this easy to share good health guidance and information!?

A new emotional installation by artist Jeremy Rosario in collaboration with Disappearing Doctors and FCB Health New York opened in Ohio this month to coincide with National Physician Suicide Awareness Day. The exhibit entitled The Disposables is a tribute to doctors lost to suicide through portraits created with disposable medical supplies you would find in clinics and hospitals.

According to the campaign, physician burnout and mental health issues are increasingly more widespread in the healthcare professional community, with over 400 doctors in the US dying by suicide annually, 63% reporting burnout and 1 in 5 are considering leaving the profession.

There is a huge amount of stigma attached to seeking mental health support in the profession and deterrents such as invasive questioning. The campaign hopes to eliminate these barriers and connect doctors to essential mental health resources.

Whilst there’s no denying the importance of this cause, the approach to the awareness campaign is so compelling. The framing of ‘disposables’ immediately sounds insensitive, but the pairing with Rosario completely changes your perception of the language. His artistry carries meaningful connections to people and their stories. These portraits delicately come together, to not only honour these physicians but to transform the conversation around mental health.

To coincide with World Alzheimer’s Day, Alzheimer’s Research UK has launched a new campaign named ‘Change The Ending’ to raise awareness of the impact that dementia has on individuals. According to the organisation, despite almost one million people living with dementia in the UK and it also being the leading cause of death in the country, less than half of people surveyed could identify memory loss as an effect of dementia.

At the centre of this campaign is a Disney-styled animation, narrated by the enigmatic talents of Olivia Colman. It depicts the story of a prince and princess whose fairy tale ending is torn apart by dementia. Heartfelt doesn’t even begin to describe where this hits. It’s so well executed; it’s emotionally charged education that will leave an impact on both raising awareness of the effects of the condition whilst emphasising the importance of the work still to be done on combatting dementia. But I’ll let the film do the talking, take a look for yourself…

Almost done… here are a few bonus reads that have kept me entertained over the past couple of weeks…

🧠 Not that I want to give this man any more airtime, but as Elon Musk gets approval for human trials for his Neurolink brain chip, read this investigation by WIRED about the deaths of his test monkeys.

🤱 How cool, weird and wonderful is this? Apparently, higher oxytocin levels in women who have just given birth enhance the ability to see faces in inanimate objects. If you are working on any baby products right now, you’re welcome for this fun insight!

⏩ The anxiety-riddled employee in me welcomes the notion of ‘feeding forward’… but I can see why ideas like this attract so much scepticism.

🧱 This art installation will be a work in progress until 3183. A new block is added every decade, and there are 116 to go.

Ok, and that’s your lot for issue 010! Please continue to share with your friends and colleagues it really means a lot to me.

And remember to wear your masks and use lots of hand sani when you are out and about, especially on public transport… COVID-free wishes to you all.

Until next time ✌️