Why is the dental association so much better at communicating issues surrounding teeth than the many optical bodies are at promoting eyes?
National Eye Week flashes across a handful of media screens once a year. Oral health is promoted in longer, higher profile campaigns such as the British Dental Association's Oral Health Month, courtesy of Colgate.
Anyone watching the TV recently will also be aware of the GlaxoSmithKline inspired www.loveyourmouth.co.uk website promotion. This is a cleverway of driving consumers to a website which educates, sells and engages them in oral health issues.
There is clearly no lack of desire from the optical industry to educate the public or sell optical products. Specsavers, Boots, VisionExpress and Dollond & Aitchison are regulars in the mainstream media, while the likes of Essilor and Transitions go even further with generic eye care messages accompanying their product promotion.We learn from the Association of Optometrists that the RNIB has plans to promote optics during the second week of Octoberand it is now working behind closed doors with the 'representative optical bodies' on this.
So why do teeth enjoy better promotion than eyes? Perhaps it is because dentistry leaves marketing to the commercial marketeers and is not afraid to dumb down when spreading its health messages.