February 2001 • Volume 7 Number 2
Watch for it! Public awareness campaign kicks off this month
FPs Leonard Fromer, M.D., of Santa Monica, Calif., and D. Ann Travis, M.D., of Fairburn, Ga., are featured in this year's ads. It starts this month in USA Today, one of the nation's most-read newspapers, and The Washington Post, the top paper in the U.S. capital -- and on the airwaves with National Public Radio's highest-rated news programs.
"It" is the Academy's multimillion-dollar, multi-year public awareness campaign. Through newspaper ads and on-air sponsorship of NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered, the campaign tells Americans that the family physician represents the warm, caring values they most desire in a doctor, combined with specialized training in up-to-date treatments and technologies and an approach that treats the whole person.
USA Today reaches nearly 1.7 million readers daily; The Washington Post reaches nearly 850,000. Morning Edition and All Things Considered reach 13.5 million listeners each week in all major U.S. markets.
"Consider this to be an investment in improving the health of all Americans, by letting them know that having a family doctor is central to good health," AAFP President Richard Roberts, M.D., J.D., of Madison, Wis., says of the three-year campaign. "We intend to create a health system where every American will be able to choose a family physician and every American will want one."
"It's also a campaign that responds to member needs. Many members have told AAFP that they want a national effort to help build recognition and respect for the specialty. And the campaign's timing couldn't be better, with the Bush administration and the newly elected Congress getting up to speed on their plans for action for the coming years."
In 2001, two ads (see right) will give the specialty a sustained presence in the newspapers.
A new advertisement will be added in each of the campaign's remaining two years. The ads will reflect the diversity of AAFP members and their practices.
The NPR sponsorship line will tell listeners the program is brought to them by "the members of the American Academy of Family Physicians, 'specializing in all of you.' Traditional family practice combined with today's medical technology ... familydoctor.org."
Campaign materials are based on a two-year research effort (see article below). The campaign has a $1.5 million budget for its first year.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2001 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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