Essity Pain Museum exposes 'gender pain gap'

The Museum aims to expose the "gender pain gap". The online experience takes media on an interactive journey, exploring real descriptions of pain used in the new 'Pain Dictionary', which has been put together by Ketchum sister agency AMV BBDO for the #Painstories campaign.

The campaign is for Endometriosis Awareness Month this March. Endometriosis affects one in 10 women but takes an average of seven and a half years to be diagnosed due to the perceived notion that severe period pain is ‘normal’.

Hard copies of the Pain Dictionary will be sent to key influencers who suffer from the condition, as well as doctors, to spread the word and help bring down diagnosis times.

The museum includes first-hand experience from project partner Lauren Mahon, the BBC broadcaster and founder of the Girl vs Cancer blog. It contains guidance on where to get advice for dealing with endometriosis from Dr Shireen Emadossadaty. The Museum will also be available to the public to educate on endometriosis.

Luciana de Azevedo Lara, global brand communication manager at Essity, said: “We’ve launched the Museum to drive awareness of the severe pain that so many women around the world experience. We hope that anyone who sees the #Painstories that live in the Museum feel heard and encouraged to seek help if they are experiencing pain themselves.”

Amber Organ, practice director at Ketchum, said: “We’re so proud to launch such a powerful campaign with Essity—it truly is work that matters. Severe pain shouldn’t be endured, and we hope that by raising awareness it will ultimately help reduce diagnosis times and help women to feel understood and supported. If even one person comes away from viewing the Pain Museum and gets an earlier diagnosis for endometriosis, we will consider this campaign a huge success.”