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.
One of the best aspects of my work is collaborating across the health/care ecosystem to address how health citizens can deal with health care costs and and care for families. I'm grateful to have collaborated with Fidelity on their research into this issue, 
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I’m celebrating America’s 250th birthday both patriotically and professionally, honored that the NLM included my 2010 paper, “How Smartphones Are Changing Healthcare for Consumers and Patients” as one of 250 items curated for the digital archive of 250 Years of American Medicine.