‘Throw away your contact lenses and save your eyes’ is the kind of headline that has marketing and communications managers waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. But this week that headline wasn’t just a bad dream it was the screamer greeting visitors to the Daily Mail website.
It would be all too easy to launch into a tirade against the Daily Mail but that’s pointless. I would strongly suggest the profession sits up and takes notice when messages like this make it into the mainstream media and look to bringing about change.
That such a headline can make it to one of the most popular news and lifestyle website in the world is unfortunate but some of the blame for its appearance must be the failure on the part of the optical community to get its messages across.
As highlighted by Tony Hough in a letter to us this week, the issue is compounded by the appearance of the Harley Street ophthalmic surgeon quoted at a BCLA meeting. But the personalities don’t really matter. The quotes could have been from any Harley Street refractive surgeon.
The crux of the issue is, just like optometry, the mainstream media see ophthalmologists as the go-to-guys when it comes to eye care. The comms teams at the AOP and the College of Optometrists should be on first name terms with the health editors within the women’s monthlies and the health desks at all the national news outlets. Health journalists need to be cultivated and educated to refer back to friendly optical contacts.
As Optician went to press it understands that a statement was being prepared for the surgeon’s website to make it clear the quotes had been taken out of context.
Sadly the damage has already been done.