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In the aftermath of a recent study it sponsored showing a
dearth of accurate depictions of chronic diseases in movies and TV shows, Eli Lilly has taken steps to remedy the situation. The pharma company launched an incubator program with Tribeca Studios and
unveiled a content creation toolkit with the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. It also moved the needle -- if only a little bit -- by sponsoring a fashion challenge on “Project Runway.”
The incubator program will select three short film projects for which the company will provide end-to-end production support, including development funding, with a world premiere set for the
Tribeca Festival next June in New York City.
Those filmmakers will be able to leverage the new content creation toolkit, which Lilly says was developed with guidance from industry experts and
patient advocacy organizations “to help foster more authentic and inclusive representations of real patient experiences while guiding storytellers to reimagine how health narratives are
crafted and shared.”
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When releasing the results of its study
earlier this year, Lilly’s global chief customer officer Jennifer Oleksiw said the company was also working with such content creators as Imagine Entertainment and Macro to help
“reshape how diseases are portrayed in TV and film.”
“Our work with patients has shown us that stories don’t just entertain. They shape culture and drive change,”
Lina Polimeni, Lilly’s chief corporate brand officer, said in a statement. “We’re giving emerging filmmakers the tools and mentorship to help portray these experiences with
empathy, accuracy, and nuance while opening new avenues for powerful storytelling.”
While its study and the new incubator program have focused on fictional portrayals of chronic
diseases, Lilly turned recently to the non-scripted reality realm to help advance accurate depictions of one of its favorite causes: eczema.
The study had shown that fewer than
0.1% of speaking characters showed symptoms of inflamed, rash-like skin conditions -- with not a single mention of eczema.
So Lilly sponsored a challenge titled
“Threads of Confidence” on “Project Runway.” (Hulu subscribers can stream the episode. It’s season 21, episode 8.)
During the show, designer contestants were
tasked with creating fashionable, confidence-boosting “night on the town” outfits for real people living with eczema, which would be customized for comfort and self-expression. (See
an example in the image above).
One designer turned the pattern of eczema skin rashes into an ink-blot-styled design. And one of the “real people” models boasted that she how had
“a medical plan for my eczema, so I’m ready to show off my skin,” while another said that “I wanted something so striking that my skin wasn’t in the conversation.”
But none of the “real people” revealed any eczema-affected skin during the show.
“Eczema and other inflammatory skin conditions are rarely shown in pop culture,” Ashley
Diaz-Granados, Lilly’s senior vice president of U.S. immunology, told Marketing Daily. “We think ‘Project Runway’ did a good job of bringing awareness to this
often-overlooked chronic skin condition in entertainment media.
“We believe this integration will help people with eczema see themselves reflected in the diverse group of
models,” she continued. “And for everyone else watching, we hope to shed light on the challenges of living with eczema and motivate people to speak to their healthcare provider about how
eczema is impacting them.
The future? “We don’t have additional activations planned with ‘Project Runway’ at this time,” Diaz-Granados said, “but
we’re always looking for new ways to reach patients and promote the accurate representation of health conditions and diseases in entertainment to better reflect the experiences of
patients.”
** "Project Runway" image courtesy of Disney/Spencer Pazer.