Health Populi

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

CVS Ad Targets Caregiving Women -- Comforting or Condescending?


Women determine the bulk of health spending in American households. Furthermore, caregiving women can be passionate health care consumers. CVS is tapping into this consumer segment through its ad campaign, For All the Ways You Care.





Part of this campaign asks women to share their caregiving stories online. CVS hopes to make this website a viable online community that will support caregivers (and of course, drive traffic into the store).

The TV ad plays the sweet song, "Ordinary Miracle," as a soundtrack to the caregiver's storyline. (This song was part of the recent remake of Charlotte's Web. A bit of music trivia: the lovely song was co-written by Dave Stewart of the Eurhythmics).

Bob Garfield, Advertising Age columnist and media pundit, wrote in a column this week that this ad is a demeaning, Disney-esque and too-saccharine a portrayal of women.

Judge for yourself; here's the video: http://www.forallthewaysyoucare.com/videos/ . Let me know what you think by leaving comments to this post, below.

Health Populi's Hot Points: I'm a woman, I'm a caregiver, I live in the northeastern U.S., I have a post-graduate education, and I like this ad. CVS is speaking to the sandwich generation. Women age 35 and upward are going through the push-and-pull of caregiving, particularly those who work both in- and outside of the home. CVS is tapping into an ache that lots of us feel, at least occasionally. The song plays viscerally on that feeling.

posted by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn at 6:00 AM

2 Comments:

  • Dear Ms. Sarasohn-Kahn,

    I used to work with the folks at CVS/Caremark and still maintain my relationships over there.

    My discussions with them point to a strategy that leverages the touch points with the consumer. They plan to exploit every contact with the consumer. MinuteClinics and online communities combined with PHRs (early 2008 roll-out to select clients) provide more touch than pharmacies have had in the past.

    Eventually they want to combine all their pharma and health plan data to provide chronic disease education and guidance. My guess is that most of the guidance will center around taking pills. They got make a buck, after all.

    I see the push toward the woman/caregiver as just smart marketing. Condescending? Maybe to the highly-sophisticated consumer. But, these 'power users' aren't the target. They're already getting their meds through the mail and managing the care of their family. I think this campaign reaches out to those that need more efficient ways to get these things done.

    Thanks for the great blog!

    By Blogger MedManager, At October 30, 2007 10:00 AM  

  • It's a delicate balance - how to support the emotional and physical needs of children growing up and parents growing older - and still have time and energy to nurture ourselves. Anyone developing an herbal remedy for that?

    By Blogger Nourishing Relationships, At November 4, 2007 6:32 PM  

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