Powerful Outdoor AR Experience from The Chrysalis Initiative Confronts Racial Inequities in Breast Cancer Care

In the US, Black women are 42% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women – even when income and access to care are the same. In a systemically biased healthcare system, Black women are often dismissed and treated with prejudices that keep them from receiving an equitable standard of care.

The Chrysalis Initiative is a non-profit that exists to disrupt disparities in breast cancer care. After partnering with marketing agency EVERSANA INTOUCH last year to launch “Erase the Line” – the award-winning campaign that included the first-ever app created specifically for women of colour facing bias and racism in breast cancer care – the organization is now turning its attention to hospitals in an effort to get medical providers to confront this reality.

For this new effort, titled 'Inequality You Can’t Ignore,' EVERSANA INTOUCH created an arresting, visually-led campaign featuring three women who were negatively affected by discrimination in their breast cancer care. The simple-yet-powerful photography depicts the women with the inequality symbol painted boldly across their breasts in white – highlighting the disparity in outcomes between white women and Black women. Scanning a QR code on the poster activates an AR experience with hard-hitting, astounding facts on the biases Black women face, and then takes users to a microsite where they can learn even more, sign up for Unconscious Bias training, and obtain important resources.

The Chrysalis Initiative asked several hospitals in the Tri-State area to display the campaign extension in their lobbies; however, they all declined or dismissed the request. But that didn't stop the non-profit. Instead, the experience was placed right outside hospital doors on bus shelters that dotted the commuting lines hospital employees were likely to travel. As tenacious and formidable as ever, The Chrysalis Initiative refused to give up or be ignored.

“With this campaign, our goal is to help health care providers confront the statistics and question whether they may be contributing to the poor numbers, even if unconsciously,” said Nick Capanear, ECD of EVERSANA INTOUCH.

In addition to the OOH, which is running near leading northeast hospitals, EVERSANA INTOUCH created a powerful film that tells the emotional story of the racism these three courageous women have experienced during treatment, the unconscious bias that exists in society today and how much further we still have to go.

“Bringing the campaign to life has been a unique challenge. From mapping out bus shelters in high traffic areas near hospitals to getting doctors to talk publicly about such a sensitive topic. We're incredibly proud to see the impact it's starting to make,” said Ivan Blotta, group creative director of EVERSANA INTOUCH. 

“The Chrysalis Initiative was born from my own experiences battling breast cancer and the unconscious bias and inequality I faced during treatment,” said Jamil Rivers, founder of The Chrysalis Initiative. “Opening the eyes of doctors everywhere to the huge disparity is only one part of the equation. We hope this new campaign and AR experience will ultimately motivate doctors to fill their blind spots and reshape their practices so we can inch closer to a future where inequality in breast cancer care is erased.”