Why an Online Pharmacy Removed Ads From First-Aid Tutorials

There’s a YouTube video for anything and everything. Pets, DIY, babies, you name it. You’ll also find quite possibly millions of videos on CPR, the Heimlich maneuver and other life-saving techniques.

Seconds count, especially if you try to watch an instructional video when a loved one is in distress—but first must sit through a 30-second ad.

Pague Menos, a network of online pharmacies in Brazil, launched “No Ad” to remove promos placed ahead of first-aid tutorials.

This strategy is a call to action for folks to get certified in CPR. That way, if a serious situation arises—and once an ambulance is called—there’s no need to try learning something new, from a video, during a high-stress situation.

The brand partnered with Descomplica Enfermagem and Medical TV nursing insights and medical information channels, and paid to demonetize 16 life-saving videos for 15 days. Take a look:

“We want to provoke the industry and get other brands to join the movement, and in the future, perhaps, YouTube will change its ad policy and will not allow ads on this type of content,” says a spokesperson for Lew’LaraTBWA, the agency behind the initiative. “Pague Menos wants to transform the industry’s behavior and guarantee precious seconds when it comes to saving lives.”

CREDITS 

Title: NO AD 
Agency: LEW’LARATBWA 
Client: Pague Menos drugstore chain  
CEO: Marcia Esteves 
CCO: Andre Gola 
Executive Creative Director: Rodrigo da Matta and Rodrigo Tortima 
Creative Director: Marilu Rodrigues 
Art Director: Guilherme Sakosigue and Leandro Bechara 
Copywriter: Rafael Miessi 
Managing Director: Maria Pirajá 
CSO: Raquel Messias 
Content: Mynd 
CDMO: Vicente Varela |
Media: Marilena Cadena e Camila Rodrigues
BI: Leonardo Cunha 
CCOO: Elise Passamani 
Operations: Fran David 
Production: Izabel Soares and Isabela Torquato 
Editor: Matheus Samson 
Audio Production: Vox Haus 
Projects: Renata Abbud and Calorina Galastri
Public Relations: Amanda Brandão and Yasmin Zampieri | Time Máquina Cohn & Wolfe 
Client Approval: Renato Camargo and Carlos Lacerda, Marina Figueiredo and Melina Menezes