#017 · 28 January 2024

Happy Sunday CULTURx fam!

I say happy Sunday, writing this on a Saturday afternoon, knowing full well that the demands of soloing the small people means I will be dragged away from the screen every 10 minutes. Chicken Run is on in the background, the wee ones are on the sofa, let’s see how it goes…

How has your January been? Did you fall for the hype of detoxing? About to complete a successful dry January perhaps? Not in this household. We opted for a ‘Damp January’ this year, a more conscious approach to our alcohol intake, and forming a better relationship with the stuff. I’m not sure what classes as successful here. Anxiety levels are good considering it is January. And making sure that the fridge is stocked with a variety of low and no-alcohol options, is a habit I want to carry through the year. I’ll take that.

Looks like we’re well into the health chat already… so, shall we jump into it?

Regardless of the industry, there are some pretty questionable executions out there when brands turn to gaming in their campaigns. But I think this one might be heading in the right direction. The Spanish Confederation of Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias (CEAFA) have collaborated with Momentum Worldwide to bring Lost in the World to the major online game platform Fortnite.

It’s an immersive Alzheimer’s simulator, where players experience the symptoms of the disease from disorientation, memory glitches, and disassociation through their avatar. My only experience with Fortnite is watching my 6-year-old build stuff in his Lego world, so at first, it was hard for me to grasp how effective this simulator would be. However, one look at the confused faces of the gaming influencers who have taken part in the initiative eliminates any doubt I had in that area (or maybe it’s in the edit?).

The purpose of this world in Fortnite is to deliver Alzheimer's disease awareness to a younger audience, and to foster a better understanding of the challenges people living with Alzheimer’s experience to tackle stigma and ultimately encourage a new generation to get involved with the cause – it’s not asking too much then.

On disease awareness, I do question whether this is the right audience. The occurrence of early-onset Alzheimer's is extremely rare for this age cohort. But there’s no denying they could have grandparents going through this now, so creating a new way of helping them navigate this could be spot on. I’d like to think that nothing would be more compelling to ‘join the fight’ than watching a grandparent literally fade away to this horrible disease… but that’s just it. That person sitting in front of you isn’t nana/grampa anymore – and that’s where the complicated stigma begins. I spoke to my pal James Whatley, who knows much more about brands showing up in this space, and he offered some thoughts: “Bringing a difficult-to-understand disease to life in a platform that streamers know and understand well is arguably one of the better ways I've seen charities engage with this demographic.”

Finally, what I really need to see to tie this campaign up, is an understanding of how CEAFA plan to galvanise this new audience to drive donations – being a charity, this is a critical commercial objective. Something as simple as utilising Twitch’s charity tool, via the streamers taking part in the campaign would be a neat little starting point to get the donations coming in.

Let me know what you think about the campaign. I am a sucker for anything health x gaming (or any other non-traditional platform). It’s bloody brave to do it differently… and bloody brilliant when executed right!

There’s one news story from the FT that I’ve been unable to avoid this weekend. Both inside the advertising industry and amongst my friends outside of it, and that’s the news of a new, emerging gender gap.

So, what’s this about? According to the article, one of the most well-established patterns in measuring public opinion is that each generation tends to move collectively in terms of politics and ideology. However, Gen-Z are reported as being hyper-progressive on some issues and conservative on others.

To explain this, an answer has come from Standford University: “Today’s under-thirties are undergoing a great gender divergence, with young women in the former camp and young men the latter. Gen Z is two generations, not one.  In countries on every continent, an ideological gap has opened up between young men and women. Tens of millions of people who occupy the same cities, workplaces, classrooms and even homes no longer see eye-to-eye.”

The #MeeToo movement has been identified as a key trigger and the article doesn’t fail to mention the role of smartphones and social media and the separate spaces inhabited and cultural experiences had by young men and women.

And that last bit is so true. I see endless memes and skits on my social feeds, and I’ve never stopped to think, when did it all become so polarized?

This trend will no doubt be significant for healthcare. There are already disparities when it comes to the health needs of women vs men. At a time when it feels like progress is happening (albeit slow), how might that change when women and men have increasingly different priorities? Two specific areas of healthcare spring to mind right now… women seeking reproductive services, like birth control and abortions, and men in need of mental health services.

Beyond this, I’m thinking more specifically about healthcare marketing, especially public health and disease awareness campaigns. There could be a huge impact on the effectiveness of such campaigns. With a divided audience, getting the message and tone right, on issues that are frankly already polarising will be significantly hard to achieve.

Have you read the piece? What has it got you thinking about when it comes to healthcare?

I missed this one in December (I did take a break after all), but I think it’s an important topic to talk about. So here I am dragging up old news. I hope you don’t mind.

King Charles appointed a faith healer as his head of medicine in the Royal Household. Dr Michael Dixon has been in post for about a year now. And it was somewhat unsurprising as the King has a long history of advocating alternative therapies and has known Dixon for quite some time too.

But last month he faced criticism for this “less orthodox choice” as concerns have been raised by academics and campaigners, such as The Good Thinking Society, who promote scientific scepticism.

Yes, the implications of the appointment are nuanced. But really, this sends a very confusing message to the public. Since 2017, homoeopathic remedies have not been available through the NHS, and at the time labelled by then chief executive Lord Stevens as "at best a placebo and a misuse of scarce NHS funds". So even though the King is adamant on his stance that homeopathy is complimentary and not a replacement for conventional medicine, his subjects are not even able to access it.

The real issue with this sort of endorsement is its promotion undermines trust in real evidence-based science and medicines. And let’s face it, it is not just the King, but many celebrities that are working against science. David Beckham, Tina Turner, Gweneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Jennifer Aniston… the list goes on. So, whilst homeopathy continues to get a boost in popularity, patients succumb to the placebo effect and delay in getting effective treatment. Whilst all of us in healthcare marketing must shout louder about proven efficacy, put the spotlight on real patients with real results… and occasionally recruit a celebrity to build trust, where science just can’t seem to win.

How do you feel about celebs endorsing homeopathy? I’d love to hear some points of view on the topic.

And on that note, I don’t actually have a celeb spot of the week!

Shocking effort from me. I must do better.

How about we jump into the rest of the bits and pieces that have kept my mind busy the past few weeks? As always, these aren’t all healthcare-related, because inspiration can come from anywhere kids. Happy reading.

🔒 Another great piece on the work Flo is doing to keep women’s reproductivity data private

👨‍⚕️ On that gender divide… more stories in the Guardian on women with endometriosis being gaslit by doctors… it’s 2024, and we’re still writing about this!

🎥 Here’s an interesting piece on why mental health visibility only goes so far at the Oscars

🩸 This is so cool – the FDA has approved a new pad that uses period blood for health testing

🖕 Not cool – the ASA have banned the awesome OOH campaign from Girl Vs Cancer

🛍️ Ever wondered what’s in the Golden Globes goodie bags… just.wow.

🕹️ Some kid beat Tetris… the whole story of the Tetris kill screen is fascinating, and even more so is how this game has stood the test of time

OK, that is it for this time.  I’ve got some exciting stuff coming up over the next couple of weeks that I can hopefully write about. And most importantly, I will be moving CULTURx to its new home, Beehiiv, by the time the next issue comes out. See my previous issues for more on that.

If you already subscribe you shouldn’t notice anything. And if you don’t, the best way not to miss the next one is by signing up now!

Thanks for spending some time with me today.

Until next time  ✌️

EML

(Oh and it is definitely Sunday… night).