Johnson & Johnson is hoping to elevate education about eye health through a partnership with photographer and author Kate T. Parker.
The company recently launched a campaign that involves Parker documenting the stories of real patients with eye conditions through photography and video.
The Vision Made Possible campaign will weave together personal stories from patients who have dealt with a spectrum of eye diseases, such as myopia, presbyopia and cataracts. The effort will also delve into how vision care resources helped improve their quality of life.
Vision Made Possible aims to drive healthy, preventive care behaviors and guide people to improved eye health, according to Peter Menziuso, company group chairman at J&J Vision.
“Sight is our most important sense,” Peter Menziuso said in a statement. “Vision Made Possible represents our aspiration to elevate the importance of global eye health combining innovation with education and awareness. It starts with an annual eye exam; it continues through healthy lifelong habits.”
Parker, who is the author of the book Strong is the New Pretty, discussed the project in a video on the campaign’s website.
“I am so excited to start work on this project with J&J Vision,” she said. “We are planning to remotely talk and photograph and film patients from all over the world discussing their journeys with vision, whatever that looks like.”
Parker noted the campaign hits home as her youngest daughter, Alice, has experienced vision problems her whole life and was diagnosed with amblyopia.
“Early intervention with Alice’s vision has meant the world for Alice and for our family,” Parker added.
Those featured on the campaign website include a cataract patient named Gwendolyn, as well as ophthalmologist and cataract patient Dr. Jeffrey Levenson, who offers advice and resources for patients faced with eye issues.
More than 2 billion people around the world have vision impairment, according to the World Health Organization. About half of those cases, or about one billion, could be prevented. In addition, the number of people with vision impairment is expected to double by 2030.
Parker emphasized the importance of early intervention, noting that the opportunity to amplify patient stories and capture the “power, humanity and authenticity” of how healthier sight has truly transformed these patients’ lives is the most rewarding part for her.
Vision Made Possible comes on the heels of J&J brand Acuvue launching a campaign encouraging parents to set up eye exams for their children as they return to school, as part of its efforts to market its Abiliti overnight contact lenses.
