▶Videoyoutube.comHealth Canada opioid stigma and overdose awareness advertising (End stigma)
Also: Help end the stigma · Opioid awareness campaign
“Addiction is a treatable medical condition - not a choice. Help end the stigma.”
Federal public education campaign run by Health Canada from about 2018 to 2021 during the national overdose crisis. Ads showed family members and friends of people who use opioids, said that stigma stops people from getting help and that addiction is a treatable medical condition, and promoted overdose signs, naloxone and the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act ('call, stay and help').
- Years
- 2018–2021
- Country
- Canada
- Topic
- DrugsHarm reductionOpioids
- Asks people to
- RecognizeReduce stigmaSeek help
- Strategy
- Simple instructionStigma reductionTestimonial
- Channel
- Social (paid)TVWebsite
- Audience
- General publicMenGeneral public and men aged 20-39 (the two focus-group audiences in the 2018 creative testing).
Evidence
NoneUnknown
Only pre-launch qualitative testing found: ten focus groups in five cities (Sep 2018) tested the creative concepts. No outcome evaluation located.
Sponsor (who paid)
- Health Canada Foreign government, funder and creator
Credits (who made it)
- Earnscliffe Strategy Group Research evaluation, 2018 source
Executions (individual ads)
- End stigma campaign 2021 · tv · sponsor-site
- Opioid awareness campaign 2018 · tv · youtube
- Call, stay and help (Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act) 2018 · social-paid · youtube
- Do you know the signs of opioid overdose? 2018 · social-paid · youtube
- Illegal drugs may contain opioids 2018 · social-paid · youtube
- Carrying a naloxone kit could help save a life 2018 · social-paid · youtube
- Samuel's story 2019 · social-organic · youtube
- Kristina's story 2019 · social-organic · youtube
Related campaigns
- Ease the Burden 2022–now
- Know More: Opioid public awareness tour 2018–now
- Stop Overdose BC 2018
Sources
- Focus Testing of Opioids Public Education Campaign on Stigma: Final Report (Earnscliffe for Health Canada, POR 034-18) evaluation · 2018
- End stigma campaign (video and transcript), Health Canada (Wayback copy) archive · 2021
- Awareness resources for opioids (Health Canada video and poster page) sponsor
Research notes
Discovered 2026-10-22 for #17. Credits checked 2026-10-22 against fetched pages: Earnscliffe Strategy Group (2018 focus-testing report). Creative agency not identified. Years are approximate: creative tested Sep 2018; the 'End stigma' spot is from the COVID period (people in masks) and its page was live by 2022; the end stigma page now returns 404. The YouTube videos are on the Healthy Canadians channel; years given are approximate (verify upload dates). The 'real stories' (Samuel, Kristina and others) may belong to a separate stigma story series. Ogilvy Canada has a 'Health Canada - Prescription Drug Abuse TV Commercial' (YouTube VssesQlDrK0) that is likely an earlier, pre-2016 prescription drug campaign; not included.
Record cases/ca-hc-opioid-stigma-campaign.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign