A soccer player's confused post-match interview was an Alzheimer's awareness campaign in disguise
Agency Hoy created awareness in Argentina with clip that went viral
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Most people know that dementia causes memory loss, but how do you demonstrate that in a way that grabs attention? A campaign from Argentina's Association Against Alzheimer’s Disease (A.L.M.A.) did so by way of hijacking a post-game interview after a major soccer match.
Soccer is huge in Argentina, with matches grabbing the country's attention. So you can imagine what happened when after a major face-off in April, Leonardo Sigali, the captain of one of the country's top teams Racing Club, didn't seem quite like himself during the expected on-field interview. When reporters asked him the typical questions, he simply responded with "I don't remember."
Naturally, the interview quickly went viral and Sigali became a trending topic on Twitter. Hours later, a video was published in which the player revealed that the interview was part of a campaign carried out by Racing Club and A.L.M.A., graphically demonstrating that short-term memory failure is one of the first symptoms of the disease.
The campaign, by Havas agency Hoy Buenos Aires, reached over 58 million people and resulted in A.L.M.A. having more consultations in 48 hours than in its entire history.
"The campaign achieved an organic impact like I had not seen for a long time," commented María Luján Donaire, executive creative director of Hoy Buenos Aires, in a statement. "It was incredible to see how Alzheimer's became a trending topic in Argentina, generating a conversation about the disease that surpassed any other conversation in networks, as well as becoming a topic in other media such as TV and radio throughout the week."