Health Populi

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Health Reform Propaganda from Hollywood and Vine


Divided We Fail is taking a page out of the propaganda scripts of World War II and Ronald Reagan: they're going straight to Hollywood.

Divided We Fail is a health reform advocacy group that brings together parties who traditionally have broken much bread together, with each stakeholder organization archetype emphasized by me in quotes: the AARP, the Business Roundtable ("Big Business"), the National Federation of Independent Business ("The Voice of Small Business"), and the Service Employees International Union ("Labor").

Together, their mission is to bring rational dialogue into the U.S. health reform debate. I've written about them in Health Populi here.

Divided We Fail has engaged with the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) and the Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) to put together a campaign that's compelling and conversation-starting.




In this video, you'll hear Morgan Freeman, Reese Witherspoon, Joaquin Phoenix, Ben Affleck, Garth Brooks, Dakota Fanning (who can't yet vote but as a youth has a huge stake in the health reform debate), Jeremy Piven, and Eva Mendes. It was directed by Tony Goldwyn, descendant of the famous film family. And, with music by the wundercomposer Philip Glass.

The concluding words of the video are, "Together, we can do anything. But Divided, We Fail."

Here's the press release explaining more about the campaign.

In the PR, Tony Goldwyn says, "Going forward, the entertainment industry will work to get these issues front and center for everyone by doing what we do best, telling the stories of real Americans who are struggling with these problems."

Health Populi's Hot Points: The Hollywood team is planning to embed health reform messages on television and in films. According to USA Today, one of the producers of Law & Order: SVU, is a pediatrician who is keen to to address these issues via TV. Entertainment is How We Live in America. I'm hopeful that this venture can get us all talking about health reform not so much in black and white, red and blue, but Together.

posted by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn at 5:43 AM

3 Comments:

  • Great. Appears at present to be a campaign of actors telling us about problems we already know about and offering no solutions other than "let's all play together" while wearing a purple donkey/elephant chimera. One can only hope that this org becomes something more than that and soon.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At May 29, 2008 12:04 PM  

  • Thank you for helping spread the word about the Divided We Fail initiative. The goal of Divided We Fail is to get people actively talking about what needs to happen to reform health care politics in America. We also believe that individuals, businesses, health care providers, non-profit organizations, and government must work together to find solutions - personally, privately and publicly. We represent tens of millions of Americans and we believe that all of us share a responsibility for making our society work and restoring peace of mind to all Americans. It is not our goal to dictate a solution, but rather, to create a collective call-to-action that both parties must address in order to move forward. To learn more about what DWF is all about, visit www.dividedwefail.org.

    By Blogger Ken, At June 26, 2008 5:07 PM  

  • The Motion Picture & Television Fund joined forces with Divided We Fail. The MPTF’s slogan was We Take Care of Our Own; however on January 14 of this year, the MPTF suddenly announced the intended closure of its hospital and long term care facility. As a result, the continuum of care of its campus no longer exists, and MPTF is “relocating” its patients to other facilities while trying to spin its PR. To learn more about the actions of a key participant in Divided We Fail,
    see http://www.savingthelivesofourown.org
    See what donors, entertainment industry members, and the public have to say at the online petition site which is in addition to more than 1500 signatures gathered in person.
    http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/keepthemptfhomeopen
    Better yet, become informed and sign the petition.

    The MPTF received big money for its sponsorship of Divided We Fail in alignment with big business while pushing its own vulnerable patients out the door after a 70 year history of providing hospital and nursing home, putting profits before patients.

    Turning its own mission upside down, MPTF is dumping its own patients on other facilities while it seeks money making ventures such as doc-in-the-box type clinics, an ambulatory surgery center and upscale residences.

    That's MPTF's solution - seek profits, forget charity.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At September 5, 2009 2:40 PM  

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