On World Alzheimer’s Month we reflect on work we did for Alzheimer’s Disease Society
13 September 2024
This World Alzheimer’s Month, we’re reflecting on a wide range of work we carried out for Alzheimer’s Disease Society in the early ‘90s. It included a powerful series of advertisements based on groundbreaking research: MRI scans were newly able to reveal ‘black holes’ or gaps in the brain – the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
The arresting ads ran in major magazines and newspapers, and used phrases like “My dad has a mind like a sieve” to challenge the ‘casual dismissal’ of memory loss, as revealed in our language.
At that time, the tackling of dementia lacked government prioritisation, despite the disease’s growing prevalence. So the campaign was designed to challenge public attitudes by literally showing that Alzheimer’s can be seen: it needed urgent funding to help treat and prevent it.
As well as raising awareness, we were confronting an uncomfortable truth, and we remain proud to have helped expose the disease’s devastating effects ‘in full technicolour’.
Fast forward to today, and it’s exciting to see how much progress has been made. Public understanding of dementia has been transformed, not least because the disease is – sadly – more widespread these days. Researchers are making great strides in preventing, diagnosing, and treating it. Last week, New Scientist reported on a vaccine in development which could potentially prevent – or even eradicate the disease by 2030. Yet, dementia remains the UK’s ‘forgotten crisis’. That’s why this World Alzheimer’s Month, Alzheimer’s Society is amplifying the voices of those affected by, “bringing them out from behind closed doors” and into the spotlight.
