LatinaLista — When it comes to “branding” a disease, the pink ribbon is now synonymous with breast cancer. It’s been so successful that now any event has only to sport the color pink — from athlete jerseys to racing cars — and it’s universally understood that the event/game is tied to breast cancer awareness.
And breast cancer isn’t even the major killer of women.
Heart disease is the #1 killer of women and aside from a little red dress tied to the American Red Cross’ Go Red for Women! campaign, heart disease lacks a true brand identity. It’s unfortunate because a new campaign created by the the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health could benefit from having a defined identity.
The government’s bilingual campaign is titled Make the Call. Don’t Miss a Beat and it’s a much needed resource for women to be able to identify the symptoms of a heart attack, what to do in case of an attack and just basic facts about the disease in women that separates the myths from the realities.
For example, there are seven basic symptoms that don’t scream heart attack but should give all women pause to think something more might be happening with their bodies. The symptoms include chest pain or discomfort, shortness of breath, breaking out in a cold sweat and sudden dizziness.
A woman suffers a heart attack every minute in the United States. Yet according to a 2009 American Heart Association survey only half of women indicated they would call 9-1-1 if they thought they were having a heart attack and few were aware of the most common heart attack symptoms.
Though this campaign sports a little red heart with 9-1-1 written inside, it’s nothing memorable or eye-catching.
With such an important disease that all women need to know about — more than just in the month of February, there should be a better campaign identity for the issue to keep women motivated to be heart healthy and fully aware of heart disease year-round.
Not everybody gets cancer, but everybody has a heart.
