Feb 19, 2025
Amid Super Bowl LIX’s high-energy, celebrity-filled, and – well, odd – ads for Dunkin, Pringles, and Coffee-Mate, one campaign stood out – not for a product, but for a potential lifesaving message.
As the Philadelphia Eagles were driving toward their 40-22 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, actor Hailee Steinfeld initially teased and then partnered with actor-comedian Wanda Sykes and Novartis to launch “Your Attention, Please,” a campaign designed to put early detection of breast cancer at the forefront of treatment, while aiming to inspire women to understand their risk through essential screenings. Sikes, diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011, underwent a double mastectomy as a preventative measure, as her family had a history of the disease. Sykes’ appearance in the tv spot also highlights the disparities in outcomes as “breast cancer mortality rates are 40% higher in Black women compared to White women, though incidence rates are similar,” according to the National Cancer Institute.
In the spot, both Sykes and Steinfeld are supported by clips of football cheerleaders and New Orleans’ Mardi Gras celebrations – widely recognized for the connection between beads and attention to breasts.
The Novartis spot tapped into the Super Bowl’s viewership and heightened attention to drive cultural health awareness – typically tied to large-scale news coverage of large-scale health studies, or celebrity health disclosures, or celebrity health-related deaths. Almost immediately, Google search queries relating to “breast cancer” spiked – whether they, and the desired action of more early-detection screenings for more women follow, will be seen.
The Impact of Cultural Health Moments on Patient Behavior
The “Your Attention, Please,” campaign pulls from the awareness campaign playbook – capitalizing on heightened attention to drive health-related actions. In 2000, Today Show host Katie Couric documented her colonoscopy prep and procedure, driving a colonoscopy rate increase “from 14.6 procedures per physician per month before the campaign to 18.6 procedures per physician after the campaign,” according to a JAMA study of what has been dubbed The Katie Couric Effect. The increased awareness, led to a measurable increase in the number of colonoscopies per doctor for roughly nine months – and the impact of celebrity on public health awareness had a valid data point.
It was 13 years later when Angelina Jolie announced her decision to have a preventative double mastectomy The New York Times via an op-ed entitled My Medical Choice. “My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer … Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much as I could,” Jolie wrote.
Jolie’s public disclosure “led to a statistically significant increase in the uptake of genetic testing and in RRBM among women without previous diagnosis of breast or ovarian cancer in the US population,” according to a study examining the impact of what was dubbed the Angelina Jolie Effect.
Researchers have also examined the impact of cultural health moments ranging from basketball great Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s disclosure of his HIV diagnosis in 1997 – credited for increasing conversations and awareness of the disease – to Charlie Sheen’s 2015 disclosure of his HIV diagnosis – credited with driving internet searches and at-home HIV test kits.
Celebrity Health Announcements and Their Influence on Public Behavior
These high-profile cultural health moments drive both awareness and behavior.
When actress Olivia Munn announced her decision to have a double mastectomy on Instagram in 2024, she cited the use of a breast cancer risk calculator, noting that her doctor “look at factors like my age, familial breast cancer history, and the face I had my first child after the age of 30. She discovered my lifetime risk was at 37%.”
Mum’s experience echoes that of Angelina Jolie, reinforcing the power of celebrity influence on preventive health measures. Munn’s disclosure drove widespread media coverage from CNN, The New York Times, NPR, and also awareness to the National Cancer Institute’s site to educate potential patients on how breast cancer risk assessment tools work.
These cultural health moments are not limited to single events or moments.
The journal Social Science & Medicine published “It’s All Just F*ing Impossible: The influence of Taylor Swift on fans’ body image, disordered eating, and rejection of diet culture” in August 2024. Swift, whose Eras Tour measured north of $4 billion in earnings and who was recently in the crowd at Caesars Super Dome to watch the Super Bowl, disclosed in her Netflix documentary, Miss Americana, that she had dealt with disordered eating and body image – something she has spoken about in media appearances, on social media, and she has brought the conversation of body diversity to her on-stage performances. The study examined a snapshot of social media posts and their associated comments on platforms such as TikTok and Reddit, to identify the impact of Swift’s lyrics, on-stage performance, and media statements on body image.
How Healthcare Providers Can Respond to Cultural Health Moments
“Physicians should be aware of the stories to which patients gravitate before they even enter the office and should consider reading media in conjunction with medical journals,” the AMA Journal of Ethics previously wrote when addressing How Should Clinicians Respond When Patients Are Influenced by Celebrities’’ Cancer Stories?. The article cited the recognized impact of highly publicized cancer narratives, including the late U.S. Senator John McCain and the late President Jimmy Carter.
Cultural health moments spark national conversations, but healthcare providers play a critical role in translating that awareness into informed, evidence-based actions at the point of care.
“Ultimately, the best space to engage with patients is still the office,” the AMA Journal of Ethics notes.
Jonathan Cooper is vice president, specialty digital platforms for Formedics.