While “Some Things Come with Age,” others do not. That’s the new slogan from the Ad Council and the Alzheimer's Association (AA) to try and boost awareness of the memory-wasting disease in the Hispanic community.
What we see as “normal signs of aging” can be anything but; while some things may slip our minds more as we grow older, sometimes that forgetfulness could be a sign of something more serious.
Created and produced, for free, by Lopez Negrete Communications, this new campaign aims to assist Hispanic caregivers in recognizing the initial indicators of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other forms of dementia among their friends and family members.
In what will be launched as public service announcements, this campaign will run in Spanish and English on TV, radio and digital sites across the U.S.
While highlighting what could be signs of dementia, such as chronic short-term memory loss and changes in behavior, the campaigns also wants to “celebrate the positive aspects of aging,” the Ad Council and AA said in a joint release.
The emphasis on the Hispanic community stems from a range of factors. Firstly, Latinos are experiencing a higher life expectancy compared to many other ethnicities, as indicated by the CDC. Additionally, they are rapidly emerging as the fastest-growing demographic of older adults in the U.S. Consequently, due to the fact that AD primarily affects older individuals, the Hispanic community is left with a heightened vulnerability to AD. This susceptibility is not only due to their advanced age but also because recent research from the AA reveals that Latinos are 1.5 times more prone to developing Alzheimer's disease compared to non-Hispanic whites.
"Due to overlapping systemic and cultural barriers that make access to diagnosis more challenging than for non-Hispanic Whites, early signs of cognitive change typically go unnoticed or undiscussed in Hispanic families, and too often a diagnosis happens only in a moment of crisis and/or emergency," according to the release from the Ad Council and the AA.
The “Some Things Come with Age” campaign will attempt to try and rebalance this.
“We know that for many families, it can be difficult to distinguish between early signs of Alzheimer's and normal signs of aging,” said Heidi Arthur, chief campaign development officer at the Ad Council, in the release.
“With this new campaign, we aim to educate individuals, especially in Hispanic communities, to recognize changes in their loved ones' behavior that could be Alzheimer's and empower them to have a conversation.”
The new campaign comes several months after the launch of a new AD drug in the form of Eisai’s Leqembi, though the pharma has no connection with the campaign.