Teva and Havas encourage people to share funny videos to raise awareness of World COPD Day
Pharmaceutical company Teva has launched a social media campaign to raise awareness of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and to raise money for three leading COPD charities across Europe: the British Lung Foundation (UK), Longfonds (Netherlands) and Fundación Lovexair (Spain).
The campaign, developed by Havas, encourages people to use the hashtag #Laugh4Lungs and share their favourite videos that make them laugh.
“It’s the old cliché, laughter is the best medicine. But there is more to it than that, because if you’ve got chronic COPD this is something you’re restricted from doing,” explained Tom Richards, chief creative at Havas.
It kicked off earlier this week but the biggest push has come today (18 November) on World COPD Day.
Havas has enlisted a raft of digital influencers to back the campaign, including actor and comedian Jack Jones, Vine artists Anto Sharp and YouTube singer/songwriter Ebony Day as well as filmmaker Harry Hitchens and vlogger Sam King.
The launch of the campaign came at a difficult time as people turned to social networks in wake of the devastating attacks in Paris on 13 November. Havas is headquartered in Paris and sadly lost colleagues in the attacks. As such, both Teva and Havas questioned if it was the right time to push #laugh4lungs.
However, Richards said: “We considered pulling the campaign and consulted with our colleagues in Paris, who told us: 'We continue, we don’t stop, nothing changes'. A true show of steely determination in the face of adversity and captured beautifully by Antoine Leiris in his tribute to his murdered wife. Our thoughts and prayers are with our colleagues in Paris and their families, friends and loved ones.”
You can find out more about the campaign on the dedicated website or donate to the cause through the Just Giving page.