Older millennials, take note: Bayer is worried about your heart health. The drugmaker set out its concerns in an ad for aspirin, showing how people are putting themselves in danger by denying that they are now among the age group at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Bayer ran the ad during Sunday's Super Bowl “in select top markets, including New York, Philadelphia and Chicago,” a company spokesperson said. Working with Klick Health, Bayer designed the “See Your Risks” TV spot and accompanying social and point-of-sale materials to raise awareness.
There are an estimated 104 million people at risk of cardiovascular disease in the U.S., but many of those individuals may be blind to the danger.
The ad features a series of people navigating New York while holding one hand over their eyes. We start in the subway, where people move along the platforms and carriages blinded by their own hands, before moving up onto the streets. A pedestrian who is shielding his eyes is almost run down by a driver with the same ocular impediment. In a cafe, a server spills coffee as neither she nor the customer looks at the mug.
As the ad opens, a narrator says, “Perhaps your heart health is just fine ... maybe you're just hoping for the best.” The narration is interspersed with comments from the people covering their eyes, who deliver lines such as, “I’m only 40,” “I eat healthy” and “I walk to work.”
The narrator dispels the idea that such facts insulate a person from heart health risk, warning that “half of heart attacks happen in those not seen as high-risk.” After more reasons to believe it couldn’t happen to you—“I take the stairs,” “Grandpa lived to 93” and “I quit smoking”—the narrator returns with the call to action, urging viewers to come out of the dark by taking Bayer’s two-minute risk assessment.
The narrator delivers the call to action over footage of two people bumping into each other and sending papers flying. After that happens, a woman who has her eyes open taps a blind man on the shoulder and shows him Bayer’s “See Your Risks” website.
Visitors to the website are invited to answer questions about their age, health and lifestyle. Based on the information, the website estimates the person’s risk of developing cardiovascular disease over the next 10 years. Visitors can receive their results via email, to be used in conjunction with suggested questions to inform their conversations about heart health with a healthcare provider.
Patients at higher risk of heart attack or stroke could receive a recommendation to take a low dose of aspirin, which makes the blood less sticky to reduce the likelihood of major cardiovascular events. Bayer sells a range of aspirin products, including low-dose regimens aimed at the heart health market.