Allergan Recruits Celebrities to Preventable Blindness Marketing Campaign

Milo Ventimiglia, best known for his portrayal of Jess Mariano in “Gilmore Girls,” has joined actress Alexandra Daddario and football player Victor Cruz to promote Allergan’s See America social media campaign. The disease awareness ads featuring the celebrities are designed to help people become more mindful of preventable causes of blindness and what the general public can do to help this cause.

The commercial featuring Ventimiglia encourages people to post a photo of their eyes on social media channels using the hashtag, #EYEPIC and tag friends in the hopes that they’ll do the same. Through their See America initiative, Allergan has committed to donate $10 to the American Foundation for the Blind for every post using the hashtag, up to $50,000.

“Sight is one of life’s most amazing and delicate gifts,” said Jag Dosanjh, SVP of US Eye Care at Allergan. “We’re launching #EyePic on social media to spread the word about preventable blindness, in a forum where people can easily join the fight. With the help of Milo, Victor, Alexandra and the many Americans who will be posting their own #EyePic, we will encourage proactive eye care and communicate important facts about preventable blindness in America.”

According to Allergan, over 20 million people in the US suffer some form of vision loss. As a national non-profit organization, the American Foundation for the Blind helps provide technology and other resources to people living with blindness.

“We are grateful for Allergan’s support,” said Kirk Adams, President and CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind. “The American Foundation for the Blind is committed to creating a world with no limits for millions of Americans who are blind or visually impaired, like myself; and we are heartened that Allergan is supporting our mission.”

It’s no surprise that Allergan is spearheading a disease awareness campaign for vision loss; the company is a global leader in the eye care space, marketing produces such as Restasis for dry eye disease and Lumigan for glaucoma.

Earlier this year, Allergan launched a dry eye disease awareness campaign called Eyepowerment. No stranger to direct-to-consumer (DTC) ad campaigns featuring celebrities, drugmaker rival Shire previously launched its “eyelove” campaign featuring actress Jennifer Aniston.