The Heart and Stroke Foundation recently released a new commercial asking viewers “What will your last 10 years look like?”, part of their ‘Make Health Last’ campaign to increase the awareness of their foundation. The commercial encourages viewers to take ‘risk assessments’ of their health and donate to the foundation. Watching the commercial, I believe that it is a powerful message to viewers such as myself and those older than me who are still healthy and in the position to make changes to their lifestyle habits. We can identify easily with the healthy and active lifestyle portrayed on the left and feel empowered to create change to avoid illness. As Heart and Stroke Foundation’s intended market segments, their message resonates strongly, which demonstrates a successful marketing strategy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo6QNU8kHxI
However, the Heart and Stroke Foundation has received numerous criticism for viewers for playing on the fears of aging for profit, as well as indirectly placing blame on the elderly people in sickly conditions for not leading a healthier lifestyle. While the Health and Stroke Foundation has defended its stance by stating the message was meant for certain market segments, it is undeniable that audiences this message was not intended, such as seniors in poor health, were still exposed and affected by it.
In our lectures, we have learned how to assess possible market segments and its attractiveness by considering many factors, but we don’t assess the suitability of a marketing strategy by the minimizing the negative affects it may have on other market segments. I think that in creating this commercial, the Heart and Stroke Foundation may have focused too much on the effectiveness of its message with its intended market segment, and too less on the seniors that are featured in their commercial and vulnerable in society. Health and illness is understandably a delicate topic for marketers to approach cautiously, but I hope that the Heart and Stroke Foundation, as well as other health organizations, can find a way to communicate their message in a more optimistic way for future commercials.