In advance of World Contraception Day on Sunday, Organon is set to debut its first major PSA campaign. The effort is designed to spark conversations around unintended pregnancies.

The 30- and 45-second spots begin with images of women around the world before transitioning to statistics about unplanned pregnancies that will likely surprise many viewers. The PSAs will air on local television and radio across the United States with social media support, and can be viewed at HereForHerHealth.com.

Organon chief communications officer Wendy Lund sees the campaign as deeply rooted in the still-new company’s broader mission.

“In doing research we discovered that women were exhausted, that they felt like they weren’t being heard,” Lund explained. “There was a lot of talking but not a lot of listening. We have a larger commitment to listen to women and understand their unmet needs.”

That’s why the focus on unintended pregnancies and their prevalence — Organon reports that, between 2015 to 2019, there were 121 million unintended pregnancies annually around the world and a 45% unintended pregnancy rate in the U.S. — makes such sense, both in terms of providing valuable information and signaling the issue’s importance to the company and its potential audiences.

Organon head of global medical affairs Edio Zampaglione believes much of the power of the campaign stems from its effort to improve conversations between doctors and patients.

“The PSA and the campaign arm women and increase their awareness, so that they can go into HCPs and ask the right questions,” he noted. “Contraception is not one-size-fits-all, like an infection treated by a certain antibiotic. It depends on where you are in your reproductive life and what your long- and short-term goals are.

For Zampaglione, the timing of the campaign is important, with certain parts of the world beginning to return to a new normal after enduring the worst of COVID-19.

Referring to the early-pandemic period when OB/GYN visits were limited, he noted that “many women were given short-term fixes. As a result, he believes it’s time for conversations around unintended pregnancies to restart.

“At a point when people are trying get some sense of career and life normalcy again, an unintended pregnancy would set them back,” he said.

Lund agreed, adding, “We want to start a broader, worldwide conversation among many stakeholders, not just a conversation between women and their HCPs. We want to make sure this conversation is happening everywhere. We want to normalize it, ultimately bringing down the levels of unintended pregnancy.”

The campaign will be promoted in the 140 markets where Organon has a presence, with much of the effort focused on OB-GYNs, other HCPs and global health advocacy organizations. Sponsored content — in the Washington Post’s The Lily, OB-GYN trades and The Female Lead — is also planned.

The Organon campaign’s varied efforts to encourage conversations are in pursuit of a larger goal, Zampaglione adds. “If we remove the stigma around unintended pregnancy, we will move the needle even more.”

World Contraception Day was launched in 2007 by several family planning organizations. It has since been embraced by NGOs, government agencies and medical associations.