By Gary Schwitzer
Almost
as if the American Heart Association felt it must compete for some of
the pinkwashing attention given breast cancer in October, it presents
its "Go Red for Women" campaign with the message, "Make it your mission to fight heart disease in women."
As with so many disease awareness campaigns, this is, at its conceptual core, a noble goal.
But as with so many disease awareness campaigns, it is the framing of the message that can be problematic.
AHA features a video of actress Elizabeth Banks – who some online
sources say is 37 years old in real life – having a heart attack. Many
TV viewers may associate her most recently as being of childbearing age
after her pregnant portrayal on NBC’s "30 Rock."
Why would the American Heart Association choose to profile such a young actress in its featured video?
We went to the Risk Assessment Tool for Estimating 10-year Risk of Developing Hard CHD (Myocardial Infarction and Coronary Death)
of the National Cholesterol Education Program of the National Heart,
Lung and Blood Institute. We entered the following data points for Ms.
Banks’ character in the video. (Let’s not quibble about the numbers we
pulled out of thin air. The video gave us no details about the
hypothetical character it chose to feature. If anything, we chose some
risk numbers that were worse than what would be supported by anything in
the video.)
Age: 37
Female
Total cholesterdol 250 mg/dL
HDL cholesterol: 25 mg/dL
Nonsmoker
Systolic blood pressure: 170 (unmedicated)
So what is this hypothetical character’s 10-year risk of having a heart attack?
2%
Should the American Heart Association choose to feature — for all
women to see — someone who — at worst — has a 2% risk over the next 10
years of having a heart attack?
We could debate that for a long time. But we think it’s
disease-mongering. They could have made the point every bit as
effectively by featuring a more representative/realistic demographic in
an equally appealing and humorous leading lady.
Heart disease in women is a very important problem — one that often
doesn’t receive enough attention. But why not give it proper attention?
Not presenting an unrepresentative risk profile as the featured case
study in a featured video.
Note that the department store Macy’s and the drugmaker Merck are key
sponsors of the campaign. Both would love to reach a younger female
demographic with their "Go Red" (see green $$$) support of this
campaign. Macy’s would love the shoppers. Merck would love the heart
drug business.
There seems to be no end to the disease awareness disease-mongering.