Gardasil, the first vaccine for the human papillomavirus (HPV), was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in June 2006. Merck introduced Gardasil with its “Tell Someone” campaign, which segued into the “One Less” advertising campaign for the vaccine, which began airing in November 2006.
The campaign announcing Gardasil wasn’t your typical pharmaceutical advertising, in part because there was little general knowledge about HPV being presented to the public prior to 2006. HPV is also a sexually transmitted disease that could cause cancer and the vaccine was most effective in pre-teens prior to the onset of sexual activity. Merck’s “Tell Someone” portion of the campaign was defined as a help-seeking advertisement, meaning that it did not include the brand name or specific information about the vaccine.
Taking a walk down memory lane, in the summer of 2006, I had also begun a communication graduate program at Wake Forest University. I was intrigued enough to use the advertising campaign as the topic for the literature review in my first compulsory class. I then used that literature review as the basis of my masters’ thesis, looking at the impact of communication and perceived social norms on knowledge, attitude, and intention toward receiving the vaccine. I certainly wasn’t the only person paying attention to the advertising campaign (nor was my thesis exactly earth-shattering), as a slew of media coverage and academic studies followed the vaccine’s launch.
But ten years later, I find that I’m still fascinated by the communication campaign surrounding the vaccine. This summer, I came across Merck’s newest ad campaign for Gardasil, “HPV Vaccination,” squarely aimed at raising both awareness and guilt in parents by linking their child’s future cancer to their inaction. The ads begin with young adults diagnosed with cancer or HPV complications and then go back through scenes of their childhood, using “who knew” and “maybe you didn’t know” statements as ways to introduce facts about HPV and Gardasil. One ad ends with the young girl asking, “Did you know? Mom? Dad?” and the other version with a young boy, “Maybe my parents just didn’t know. Right, Mom? Dad?”
According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control based on a 2014 survey, approximately 60% of adolescent girls and 42% of adolescent boys have received at least the first shot of the 3-shot vaccination series. This is an increase of approximately 3% from the 2013 survey, but there’s still a lot of room to go, as this infographic from the CDC of vaccination rates by state shows.
The release also points out that “the relatively large increases in HPV vaccination seen in some states mask the lack of progress in other states. Every year, about 27,000 women and men in the United States are diagnosed with a cancer caused by HPV infection. HPV vaccination could prevent the majority of these cancers from ever developing.”
An article from Fierce Pharmaceuticals cites studies showing up to a 90% decrease in HPV cases in countries with the highest vaccination rates and a quote from a Merck representative, who said “the awareness campaign is needed because in [Merck’s] own survey of 858 parents last year about 85% were familiar with HPV, but only about 50% knew about the link between the virus and cancer.”
I’m no longer focusing on communication research, risk communication, social norms, or other theories that are applied to health communication campaigns, but here’s hoping this latest campaign shows an increase in vaccination, whether parents choose Gardasil or its rival Cervarix, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKlein.
It’s certainly captured my interest.