What Québec Wants™

Encouraging Québec women to listen to the cancer that whispers.

The symptoms of ovarian cancer are difficult to identify for both patients and healthcare professionals. Not only are the signs vague and easily missed, there is no reliable early detection screening test available. That’s why listening to one’s body can make all the difference. The statistics tell the story: 70% of women diagnosed at a late stage with ovarian cancer will not survive more than five years while 90% will survive if diagnosed early.

Working with Ovarian Cancer Canada, Headspace Marketing created an awareness campaign aimed at women in Québec. The campaign literally turns up the volume on the cancer that whispers. The campaign includes a :30 TV spot, print and interactive ads and the website soyealecoute featuring Dr. Valerie Garneau.

This awareness campaign, featured in today’s issue of Infopresse Infopresse online, was created with the generous support of Les Productions 401, Pear Interactive, Louise Savoie Photographe, Boogie Studio, Pierre-Olivier Boucher, L’Oreille cassée, Marie Charlebois and VMS productions.

 

Ovarian Cancer Canada - Chuchotements from Headspace Marketing on Vimeo.

Antacid with Coke

I saw this in a drug store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on a recent trip. At first, I thought it was a rather odd cross-selling/merchandising approach.

 

But I guess there’s more to it. Artist Humble Houdini offers a ringtone called “antacid with Coke”.

Clearly, this is a topic that generates quite a bit of chatter online.

Why does an antacid dissolve in coke faster than in water?

Antacid after a Coke binge?

Chew an antacid while drinking Coca-Cola.

Antacids in Québec

PMB asked Canadians if they use upset stomach remedies for heartburns.

11.7% (116 index) of Quebeckers do compared to 9.5% of Canadians in the ROC.

Perhaps Quebeckers (like the folks in Baton Rouge) know something about Coke (or is it Pepsi?) and Tumbs.

Candle-lit dinners and massage oils over the little blue pill?

Dealing with erectile dysfunction in Québec and in the RoC

Viagra - Strolling - (2009) :15 (Canada)

Seeing this classic Viagra commercial on TV prompted me to look for data on usage of erectile dysfunction drugs among Québec men. Here’s what I found from a study conducted by the UBC Center for Health Services and Policy Research. The findings were reported on this site for generic drugs.

The survey shows interesting differences in the use of erectile dysfunction drugs based on geographic location.

It shows that Canadians spent approximately $20 billion on prescriptions drugs in 2007. The highest per capita spending on prescription drugs was in Québec where people spent $681 millions on these drugs. The lowest per capita spending on prescription drugs was in British Columbia, where people spent $43 millions on prescription drugs.

However, when you consider the category of erectile dysfunction drugs, the tables were changed. Men in British Colombia seemed to obtain or use 16 percent more of ED drugs than the average male in Canada. However, men in Québec seemed to obtain or use 16 percent less erectile dysfunction drugs than the Canadian average.

This difference in the use of erectile dysfunction drugs between Québec and British Columbia is being attributed to lifestyle differences, as well as cultural factors. The mindset of a Québec male may be such that he prefers to bring out a bottle of wine, set up a candle-lit dinner and open bottles of massage oils to set off a romantic mood, than whip out a pack of erectile dysfunction pills. Québec men seem to be more averse to taking erectile dysfunction drugs, even when their partners are encouraging them to take these.

Note that the author writes "the mindset of a Québec male may be such that he prefers to bring out a bottle of wine..." That may help with the mood but too much of it won't help with the dysfunction. Here's a Q&A on this topic from WebMD: It's difficult for you to get an erection when you've been drinking. - Drinking too much alcohol can lead to erectile dysfunction. While a glass of wine may help you and your partner get in the mood, heavy drinking can really hamper your sexual performance.

How about a double double with Stevia, Truvia or PureVia?

I love sugar in my coffee. And I’ve never adopted so-called artificial sweeteners.

Now an alternative appears to be gaining in popularity. A sweetener is derived from a plant called stevia, which grows in Paraguay and Brazil and has been used for centuries in South America. According to the Globe & Mail, it's already available in Canadian natural-food stores as a tabletop sweetener. But now companies such as Cargill Ltd. and Merisant Worldwide Inc. are extracting rebaudioside A, one of the   components that makes the plant sweet, and turning it into a zero-calorie, natural rival to artificial sweeteners like Splenda.

According to the same G&M article, consumer research firm Mintel estimates the market for products made with stevia could reach $2-billion (U.S.) by the end of 2011.

Last fall, Health Canada released updated rules that allow stevia and its extracts to be added as a non-medicinal ingredient to natural health products, which has opened the door to allowing food and beverage makers to expand the use of stevia in their products.

Stevia is available under various brands including Truvia and PureVia.

See this spot for Truvia – the all natural, zero calorie sweetener that comes from a leaf. Honestly sweet. Honestly?

Quebeckers and low calorie sweeteners

The all-natural aspect of a sweetener that comes from a leaf might change Quebeckers’ attitudes towards low calories sweeteners. However, for now, it seems they aren’t huge fans of the stuff. According to PMB 2009 data, only 7.7% of Quebeckers used a low calorie sweetener in the past 6 months compared to 16.1% of Canadians in the ROC.

Playing games.

Today's editorial in the New York Times titled 'Super Bowl Censorship' deals with the touchy issue of abortion. However, the debate over the censorship of a TV spot during the Super Bowl should be a non-issue.

Here's the editorial:

The commercials during the Super Bowl, a showcase for the best (or worst) in TV advertising, often generate buzz and sometimes outrage. This year, viewers will see one ad that has already triggered a heated debate about abortion and censorship.

The 30-second spot, financed by the conservative religious group Focus on the Family, is said to recount the pregnancy of Pam Tebow, mother of the college football star Tim Tebow. After falling ill during a mission to the Philippines, she ignored a recommendation by doctors to abort her fifth child, who became the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner.  

The National Organization for Women, NARAL Pro-Choice America and other voices for protecting women’s reproductive freedom have called on CBS to yank it. Their protest is puzzling and dismaying.

A letter sent to CBS by the Women’s Media Center and other groups argues that the commercial “uses one family’s story to dictate morality to the American public, and encourages young women to disregard medical advice, putting their lives at risk” — a lame attempt to portray the ad as life-threatening. Others argue that even a mild discussion of such a divisive issue has no place in the marketing extravaganza known as the Super Bowl.

The would-be censors are on the wrong track. Instead of trying to silence an opponent, advocates for allowing women to make their own decisions about whether to have a child should be using the Super Bowl spotlight to convey what their movement is all about: protecting the right of women like Pam Tebow to make their private reproductive choices.

CBS was right to change its policy of rejecting paid advocacy commercials from groups other than political candidates. After the network screens ads for accuracy and taste, viewers can watch and judge for themselves. Or they can get up from the couch and get a sandwich.

Quebeckers and abortion

According to a Leger Marketing survey conducted in 2004, residents of Quebec and B.C. are most likely to say they are in favour of abortion.

Take a beauty pill

There's a new treatment that claims the way to look more youthful on the outside is to start with the inside.

Innéov Fermeté is a little red pill that when taken daily supposedly provides the necessary nutrients to prevent wrinkles. It contains a compound found in tomatoes which, it is claimed, protects old skin cells and promotes the growth of new ones.  

It is among an emerging class of so-called cosmeceuticals - beauty treatments that claim to work from inside the body rather than being applied to the hair or skin.

Because Innéov Fermeté is taken daily as a sugar-coated pill, its makers hope that it will be viewed as a lifestyle product, like a vitamin supplement, rather than as a medicine.

It is on sale in parts of Europe and South America and a launch is planned in the UK, although a date has not yet been confirmed.

But with a price tag of £25 for a ten- day supply, it is likely to be beyond the budget of most Britons, particularly as the manufacturers say it will take around three months for any effect to be noticed.

Source: MailOnline

Quebeckers and looking young

The benefits offered by Innéov Fermeté are likely to be sought by women in Québec if and when it is sold in Québec. According to PMB 2009, women in the province are more likely to say they feel their confidence is greatly enhanced when they know they look their best and to say they like to change their appearance with cosmetics.

For more on Québec women and beauty, read this previous post.

Victoria's secret revealed. It's blue.

As is now widely known among the Facebook community, the social networking site is quite colorful these days.  

A growing number of female users are now posting the color of their bra on the site. It’s all part of an improvised breast cancer awareness campaign triggered by a viral chain letter that was sent a few days ago to a group of women via Facebook. It is still unclear who initiated the campaign. A post on Mashable (The Social Media Guide) suggests it was started by women in Detroit.

What is clear is how quickly it spread.

Not all are pleased with the viral campaign. Groups have been created on Facebook to protest. A group called "Not posting the color of your bra" is asking women who wish to support breast cancer awareness or research to stop posting the color of their bra on Facebook, and instead make a donation to their local Cancer society, or to donate their time to help.

No doubt this viral campaign is an interesting and funny way to spread the word about a deadly disease.

Will it benefit breast cancer? It’s hard to tell. Here’s a Facebook message from the Mashable post that says it all:

“Some fun is going on…. just write the color of your bra in your status. Just the color, nothing else. It will be neat to see if this will spread the wings of breast cancer awareness. It will be fun to see how long it takes before people wonder why all the girls have a color in their status… Haha .”

Need we say more?

Quebec women with breast cancer genes less likely to take preventive steps.

According to this article by the Canadian Press, Quebec can expect to see higher rates of breast cancer among women who carry gene mutations known to increase the risk of that form of cancer, because women in the province who are screened for the genes are less likely to take preventive actions. This is based on the findings from a 2007 study.

Let’s hope Facebook and this “fun” viral campaign can have a real impact.

Posted by Manon Varin, Project Manager at Headspace Marketing.

Quebeckers hand shaking and air kissing.

According to a recent survey by Harris Decima, 60% of Canadians have declined to shake hands out of concern for passing the flu along to someone else.

Quebeckers (76%) are more likely than Canadians in the ROC to have done so and they’re the least likely to be offended if someone declines to shake their hands out of concern about spreading H1N1 flu.

No data on what’s happening with the more sanitary habit of air kissing in Québec.

It won't hurt

Quebeckers say it ‘won’t hurt and may help you a bit’.

According to a study on alternative medicines and practices conducted by Angus Reid, Quebeckers and residents of Atlantic Canada are more likely than Canadians in the ROC to say they have used acupuncture. The data isn’t recent (1997) but it paints an interesting portrait of Quebeckers’ use of and views on alternative medicines and practices.

Quebeckers are significantly more likely than the national average to say they use acupuncture and homeopathy and significantly less likely to say they use herbology and chiropractics.

Asked about their main reason for using alternative medicine (e.g. don’t trust modern medicines, regular medicines on their own not as effective, worry about side effects of modern medicines, more natural), Quebeckers are significantly more likely to say ‘Why not, alternative medicines and practices don’t hurt you and may help a bit.”

Having had an acupuncture treatment last week for the first time, I would rephrase the statement this way: “Why not, it hurts a bit and will hopefully help a lot”.

Here's some related data about Quebeckers and health professionals (from the Canadian Institute For Health Information - 2005):

The number of health professionals in a specific field per 100,000 people in Quebec compared to total Canada:

• Pharmacists in Quebec 89, in Canada 91
• Dentists in Quebec 53, in Canada 58
• Dental hygienists in Quebec 54, in Canada 57
• Dietitians in Quebec 30, in Canada 25
• Ergo-therapists in Quebec 43, in Canada 35
• Physiotherapists in Quebec 48, in Canada 49
• Chiropractor in Quebec 15, in Canada 22
• Optometrists in Quebec 16, in Canada 12
• Psychologists in Quebec 99, in Canada 45

Perceptions and distortions about health care

Watching CNN these days you would think that all Canadians are suffering because of a dysfunctional government-run healthcare system. Organizations such as Conservatives for Patients’ Rights are running TV spots like this one to ‘reveal the reality of government-run healthcare in Canada’.

It’s the same organization that posted a video on YouTube featuring orthopedic surgeon Dr. Brian Day saying “our own Supreme Court of Canada has stated that patients are actually dying as they wait for care in Canada”.

It’s a complicated and politically charged issue and I don’t claim to be an expert. The current debate in the US prompted me to look at comparative data about how Quebeckers and Canadian in the ROC view the issue.

But first, here’s data from a recent Canada-U.S. survey of attitudes about healthcare conducted by Ipsos Reid.

The differences aren’t that significant – with two major exceptions which are at the heart of the debate in the U.S.

• 65% of Canadian agree with the statement ‘I currently have access to all of the health care services I need without it costing me more than I can afford. Only 49% agree in the U.S.
• 47% of Americans say this statement describes them: ‘I do not have to wait a long time for an appointment when I am referred to a specialist.’ Only 26% of Canadians agree with the statement.

The Canadian Medical Association conducted a poll via Ipsos Reid last October among a thousand Canadians and asked them to rank the most and least important issues ‘in terms of action for the next newly elected government’.

Residents of Quebec and Atlantic Canada were more likely to rank health care ahead of the economy, taxes, the environment, crime and international issues than Canadians living in other provinces.

It also asked about specific health care issues and whether they should be a top priority or not at all a priority using a 10 points scale.

The list included:

• The shortage of doctors.
• The shortage of other healthcare professionals.
• The efficiency of the health care system.
• The overall quality of health care.
• Access to MRIs, X-rays and other diagnostics equipment.
• Access to mental health care.
• Lack of an electronic medical record.

Quebeckers consistently rated these priorities lower than residents of Ontario. In fact, 34% of Quebeckers did not rank any as a 9 or 10 priority compared to only 11% of Ontarians.

Should we conclude that Quebeckers say they are more concerned about healthcare than most Canadians - yet when it comes to specifics, they appear to be not as concerned or can’t put their finger on what needs to be improved?