Amitabh Bachchan partners with GSK for shingles awareness and prevention

GSK announced a partnership with Amitabh Bachchan to raise awareness about shingles, a painful condition that affects one out of three adults above the age of 50 years.

The campaign film captures the agonising pain caused by shingles and its debilitating impact on the people living with it. It gives an important message that it is possible to protect ageing adults against this pain through vaccination.

Commenting on the partnership, Bachchan said, “Shingles is known to be painful and thus certainly a setback to senior citizens. For prevention against shingles, I recommend the senior citizens to talk to their doctors.”

Shingles are caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. The virus remains inactive in the body after a person recovers from it. When the immunity of the body weakens, it re-activates to cause shingles. More than 90 per cent of Indians by the age of 50 years have this virus in their body and are vulnerable to shingles.

Dr Rashmi Hegde, Medical Director, GSK, said, “Amitabh Bachchan has been the face of several disease and vaccination awareness campaigns before, and his support has motivated people to take the required action to prevent these diseases. Today, India’s ageing population is rising, and we need to make them aware of diseases such as shingles which can impact their quality of life. We believe this will persuade more people to talk to their doctors about protecting themselves or their loved ones from shingles.”

The film has been conceptualised and executed by Lowe Lintas. Commenting on the creative insight for the film, Sagar Kapoor, Chief Creative Officer (Global Brands), Lowe Lintas said, “Our challenge was to find a way to ‘show’ the unbearable pain of shingles, a sensation that can only be ‘felt’. That is why we have made use of imagery such as sharp nails piercing the body or a person getting electric shocks. We do not want to scare people, but we want to make them aware that shingles can be extremely painful, and it can be prevented.”

The video will be released on multiple platforms such as YouTube, Television, Print and other social media.