When chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) hits, it hits hard, and that is the message Gilbert + Davis Communications, of Toronto, has adopted in its new campaign for The Lung Association.

The campaign includes print and radio, and is intended to flag the early symptoms of the lung disease. Running in Chatelaine and other Rogers publications, the print ads include a close-up of a face. The text, which reads, ‘My lungs don’t work. I want to breathe. God help me. Is this how I die?’ is strategically placed within the mouth, clogging the airways and conveying the panic people feel as a consequence of a sudden incapacity to breathe.

Similarly, the radio spot features the voices of actual COPD sufferers who try to discuss their condition but cannot because of its severity. The tagline for both the print and the radio ads is, ‘When you can’t breathe, nothing else matters.’

Although COPD currently ranks as the third major cause of death worldwide, only 8% of Canadians know of the disease, says Eileen McAlear, director of marketing and communications for the Toronto-based Lung Association. Smokers also often misattribute the symptoms of COPD to a smoker’s cough, and only seek treatment once symptoms worsen, she says.

However, COPD – a disease that often starts as chronic bronchitis and progresses to emphysema – does not only plague smokers. This is a ‘healthy lung campaign, it’s not an anti-smoking campaign,’ says Rick Davis, creative partner and copywriter of the new Toronto-based ad shop. ‘We’re targeting smokers and non-smokers aged 35 to 60 who have the symptoms but shrug them off.’

The campaign does not mention the word ‘smoking,’ and focuses instead on symptoms such as coughing and wheezing, directing viewers to The Lung Association’s toll-free COPD help-line and to a link on its Web site called Breathworks that provides a disease management program.

The new advertising, set to launch at the end of March, is ‘dramatic, rough, and rugged,’ says Davis.

Client: The Lung Association

Agency: Gilbert + Davis Communications

Account Director: Joanne Riley

Copywriter: Rick Davis

Art Director: Brian Hickling

Photographer: Robert Goshgarian