A new campaign by Bayer is encouraging millennial women to “break up” with the birth control pill.
As part of global initiative called “Break Up & Move,” the pharmaceutical company is making stops at six Canadian universities. Each event includes a free yoga class followed by a discussion with relationship expert Kimberly Moffit and a local health expert. The conversation focuses on getting women to ditch what isn’t working in their lives, such as bad relationships, unhealthy diets and, ultimately, taking the pill.
“When most women start taking contraception, they use birth control pills because that’s what their doctor prescribes and you don’t know what you don’t know,” said Emily Hanft, marketing manager, women’s health Bayer Inc. “The whole idea around this campaign is to make sure women are educated on all their options, particularly on long-acting reversible contraception [IUDs] because we know a lot of young women [forget to take] pills… which can lead to unintended pregnancy.”
As part of the campaign, Bayer conducted a survey that found 70% of millennial pill users said they would consider breaking up with the pill for an alternative contraception method requiring no daily routine.
Bayer makes an IUD called Mirena. Hanft said the campaign is largely unbranded and isn’t tied to a specific product. “We talk a lot about contraception and long-acting reversible contraception, but there’s no specific product mention so to speak,” she said. “It is more around education.”
During the events, bringing up the topic of birth control is “quite organic,” said Hanft. “Moffit and an MC play off one another and have a symbiotic conversation around breaking up with things that aren’t working in your life,” she said. “And the physician is there to provide that balanced information, not just about contraception, but about sexual health and intimacy.”
The campaign is being promoted with the Tumblr BreakUpAndMove.ca as well as postering and live activations on campus, where reps hand out information and encourage women to sign up.
Public relations is being handled by Narrative PR.
