Since 1984, Advil has been trusted to deliver powerful relief at the source of several kinds of physical pain. So when we identified the emotional pain inflicted on Black people throughout history, we wanted to address that at the source, too.

The Advil Pain Equity Project established a three-part plan to address systemic bias in healthcare that got to the source of the issue. We conducted a national survey with 2,000 pain sufferers, which informed our approach to focus on improved medical education and training. This ensured our awareness and action-driving campaign was rooted in reality. We defined the following goals to reach the right audiences with the right actions:

• General Public: Illuminating the problem of pain bias to drive urgency around the issue

• Patients: Empowering Black patients to become better self-advocates

• HCPs: Changing the way healthcare professionals think about and address Black people’s pain

The Advil Pain Equity Project is a long-term platform created to combat pain inequity in the healthcare system and to protect Black patients from systemic pain bias and racist medical practices.

It illuminates the reality of systemic bias through a powerful docuseries. Alongside racial bias experts and advocates, we deconstructed the painful realities of pain bias in America from 1619 to present day through historical context, expertise, and real emotional stories of Black people who have experienced pain inequity firsthand.

But awareness alone isn’t enough to save lives, so we set out to address the issue through medical-education reform. We built long-term solutions within the medical education and training system to help aspiring and current HCPs unlearn bias, and learn how to equitably and effectively address pain. We also equipped patients with the tools they need to confidently approach healthcare situations and advocate for themselves.

Three audiences with the power to create systemic change related to pain inequity, with one call-to-action: believe Black people in pain. We aimed to educate, inspiring action amongst the general public, HCPs, and patients, meeting them where they are, rewiring their thinking, and giving them ways to get involved. We:

• Ignited perception-changing conversations: Powerful conversations on social, digital, and OOH got people talking about pain bias and their experiences, and drove urgency to take action.

• Challenged the way HCPs think about pain care: To solve pain bias, systemic changes to the way HCPs learned about and practiced pain care and management were necessary. Our target was medical education and training.

• Set patients up for better HCP interactions: While it’s not on Black patients to do more, it was imperative that patients felt empowered to speak up for themselves when they felt their pain wasn’t being properly addressed.

During Pain Awareness Month, we launched our 360-degree campaign across social, digital, influencer, OOH, events, and earned media, illuminated the issue and targeted the healthcare system that has failed Black patients for too long.

5 key executions:

• BelieveMyPain.com: campaign hub that houses the docuseries, patient stories, and tools for all audiences to take action.

• A national medical school course: developed in partnership with Morehouse School of Medicine and BLKHLTH, for the next generation of HCPs to learn equitable practices.

• Activation at the Student National Medical Association conference, where we rallied future HCPs to commit to pain equity and dismantling barriers to equitable pain care.

• ACCME-accredited continuing education program to help current HCPs challenge their own biases and implement equitable and effective pain care practices.

• Series of digital tools to help patients document their pain, talk about it more effectively, and advocate

Illuminating the pain bias problem amongst general public

• 76% agree Advil is on a mission to address pain bias at the source; 62% said the campaign improved their understanding of pain inequity in the U.S.

• 565M earned impressions

• 252,896,952 social impressions

• 168K impressions across influencer posts

• 61.2M impressions across OOH activations in two key markets – NYC and Atlanta.

Empowering Black patients to become better self-advocates

• Over 2 in 3 (68%) Black people said they felt better equipped talking to their healthcare provider about pain having seen the campaign

• 3 in 5 (61%) Black people said they intend to act on the information provided by the campaign

Changing the way healthcare professionals think about and address Black people’s pain

• Nearly a thousand healthcare providers accessed, reviewed, and received CME credit for this vital training, marketing significant strides towards more equitable healthcare practices.