Developed by McCann Healthcare Worldwide Japan, the initiative - somewhat surprising for a country with one of the world’s lowest birthrates - is the first of its kind in Japan, making use of giant TV screens on buildings opposite Tokyo’s busy Shibuya crossing to simulate a dialogue between the public and a doctor.
The 30-second movie, OC for Me!, sees four animated female characters talking to each other from
separate buildings.
Aimed predominantly at women aged between 20 and 40, it attempts to promote the pill as an effective means of life-planning, to encourage visits to specialists, and to direct traffic to a designated website providing detailed information on issues surrounding oral contraception and female health. The movie is aired four times an hour for a total of 60 daily broadcasts from 9am to midnight.
The messaging is reinforced with the distribution at the crossing of mobile phone straps bearing images of the characters. The site has an average daily traffic of 500,000 pedestrians.
Takeshi Masaki, an account manager at McCann Humancare (a division of McCann Healthcare) who worked on the project, said that self-consciousness meant most women in Japan were reluctant to visit health clinics for check-ups, going only for pressing health reasons.
“It is still not that common to go to an obstetrician or gynecologist,” he said. “It is not that women dislike going, but rather that they dislike others knowing the fact that they are going.” Masaki added that oral contraception, a product that has not been aggressively promoted in Japan and has won favour with just two per cent of the female population since its introduction in 1999, suffered from a negative image.
Many associated it with adult entertainment establishments, he said, while others regarded it as an ineffective method of birth control.
“Generally in Japan, contraception equals condoms,” he said. “Therefore, those who use oral contraception are thought to be a little strange. However, since the users themselves are very satisfied, the intention is to bring the efficacy to people’s attention and to increase penetration.”
But more than simply positioning the pill as an effective method of contraception, the campaign was designed to highlight its role as a life-enhancing supplement that could help ease discomfort, Masaki noted.
Japanese give the pill a push
TOKYO - The Japan Family Planning Association has launched a pioneering six-day campaign to raise awareness of oral contraception among young Japanese women.
