These Disturbing Baby Products Were Designed for Infants Addicted to Opioids

A heartbreaking statistic—that every 15 minutes a baby is born withdrawing from opioid dependency—is the basis of a sobering new campaign from Grey New York, which created a line of products designed just for such infants, including a morphine-injecting baby spoon and a rattle outfitted with a heart monitor. 

The products aren’t actually for sale, but they are getting a whole digital push anyway—featuring posts by mommy bloggers and other influencers, as well as Instagram and Facebook ads. 

The fictitious brand, called Opi’s, was created for the Urgent Love Initiative, a group that is battling opioid addiction in southwestern Virginia—including helping mothers who have little to no access to treatment for their substance use disorder. 

Check out the products here: 

Grey did interviews with NICU staff at Carilion Clinic and elsewhere as research for the campaign, and then worked with Tool of North America to make the 3-D models and prototypes. When you “buy” the items on the website, your money becomes a donation to Urgent Love. 

The third product is a baby bottle with a facemask so the infant can breathe properly while feeding. See it introduced in the video below. 

“Most addicted mothers who need this treatment have no help available to them, or no money to pay for it,” says Nancy Hans, executive director of The Prevention Council and co-founder of the Urgent Love Initiative. “By launching Opi’s, we hope to raise awareness, raise desperately needed funding to help mothers before they wind up in a situation where they’re having a child while addicted to opioids, and ensure their postpartum path forward remains drug-free.” 

CREDITS

Prevention Council of Roanoke County
Robert Natt – President
Nancy Hans – Executive Director
Walt Boyle – Urgent Love Initiative

Grey NY
John Patroulis – Worldwide Chief Creative Officer
Joe Mongognia – Executive Creative Director
Brett Simone – Associate Creative Director
Lillian O’Connor – Associate Creative Director
Abigail Hoeflinger – Copywriter
Alyssa Gaddis – Art Director
Marie Massat – SVP, Account Director
Kenny Gold – SVP, Director Social Media
Bryce Mathias – Social Strategist
Finn Leslie – Senior Content Architect
Laura Konopack – SVP, Account Director Activation
Brian Lai – Designer
Mauricio Ruiz – Creative Technologist
Owen Dougherty – Chief Communications Officer
Graham Nolan – SVP, Director, Reputation Management
Bruce McDonald – VP, Executive Producer
Samantha Alvarado – Integrated Producer

Tool of North America
Ryan Hawthorne – Lead 3D Artist
Adam Baskin – Director of Innovation

Yawn Moon
Seth Williamson – President / Prop Design

Townhouse
Michael Sapienza – Executive Producer
Thomas Brink – Video photographer
Chase Wagner – Video photographer, Assistant Editor
Bob Sobol – Print Producer / Comp Artist
Jose Gonzalez – Print Producer / Comp Artist

Cosmo Street
Marlo Caine – Editor
Kyle Moriarty – Assistant Editor