On the 6th of August, OUTpatients spoke at an event hosted the advertising company Golin, alongside representatives from ITV and the charity People Like Us. The event focused on how to develop creative campaigns which empower and foreground marginalised communities, and gave us the opportunity to share some of our recent successes.
Lee, our Education and Policy Manager, spoke about our Best For My Chest, Remove the Doubt, and Hear Me Out campaigns, and the importance of co-creation in making these projects truly effective.
One of the barriers that LGBTIQ+ people face to cancer care is that we do not see ourselves reflected in the services we use. That is why we work to co-produce every campaign we create with members of our community. This ensures our messaging is informed by lived-experience, and tailor made for the people we are trying to reach.
We also had the opportunity to hear from other organisations about their work to embed diverse voices. ITV spoke about their recent silent advertising break during the airing of the crime drama Code of Silence. This show’s main character is deaf, and the silent ad break was designed to draw attention to the experiences of Deaf and hard and hearing people watching television.
People Like Us also shared a powerful spoken word video produced for their Name the Bias campaign. The campaign highlighted that people with ethnically diverse names have to send 60% more applications to get a job interview, and asked employers to commit to publishing data on their ethnicity pay gap. People Like Us are also campaigning for the government to make ethnicity pay gap reporting mandatory for companies.
After each organisation shared their work, we took part in a panel discussion about how to develop campaigns in partnership with marginalised communities. We highlighted that, despite global pressures from anti-LGBTIQ+ groups, many businesses and industry partners remain committed to campaigns which celebrate and elevate the voices of our community.
With anti-LGBTIQ+ sentiments on the rise, it is now even more important that large organisations are supporting marginalised people, working with us to ensure our stories are heard.
If you would like to take part in one of our focus groups, or work with us to develop a campaign, make sure to sign up to our newsletter where we advertise opportunities to get involved!