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Beat the Stigma

“Beat the Stigma”

Ohio statewide campaign launched November 10, 2021 by Governor DeWine, RecoveryOhio, OhioMHAS, the ADAMH Board of Franklin County and the Nationwide-led Ohio Opioid Education Alliance to reduce stigma toward addiction and mental illness. TV, streaming, radio, billboard and digital spots are set on a fictional game show where contestants voice common misconceptions; an online trivia game sits at BeatTheStigma.org. The final round of ads ran in 2024.

Years
2021–2024
Country
United States
Budget
Nearly $10 million committed in February 2021 (WVXU); search snippets describe a $9.75 million investment from the Governor's first executive budget.
Topic
DrugsMental healthOpioids
Asks people to
Reduce stigmaSeek help
Strategy
HumorStigma reduction
Channel
OutdoorRadioSocial (paid)TVWebsite
Audience
General public

Evidence

Self-reportedUnknown

RecoveryOhio 2024 report: 96% of Ohioans have heard of Beat the Stigma; 89% of people who started the online game completed it; 81% of Ohioans expressed a desire to learn more about mental health and substance misuse (survey method not described).

Sponsor (who paid)

  • RecoveryOhio / Office of Governor Mike DeWine State local government, funder
  • Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services; ADAMH Board of Franklin County State local government, partners
  • Ohio Opioid Education Alliance (led by the Nationwide Foundation) Foundation, creator

Credits (who made it)

Not recorded yet.

Executions (individual ads)

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. WVXU: Ohio launches statewide campaign to combat stigmas around addiction, mental illness (10 Nov 2021) news · 2021
  2. RecoveryOhio 2024 Annual Report (Beat the Stigma section) sponsor · 2024
  3. Beat the Stigma (campaign site) sponsor

Research notes

US-OH. Covers addiction and mental illness, launched as the first recommendation of the 2019 RecoveryOhio Advisory Council. The Ohio Opioid Education Alliance earlier ran 'Don't Live in Denial, Ohio' (2018-); search snippets say DeWine asked 'the same marketing experts, led by Nationwide' to build this campaign, but no page found names the creative agency. Execution KjoUJMTBfEs is a third-party 'Commercial Archiver' upload of the spot, confirmed via oEmbed. Funding wording: WVXU says nearly $10M was committed after Franklin County commissioners passed a resolution; not settlement money per any source seen. Ad library search: "Beat the Stigma", "Ohio Opioid Education Alliance". Discovered 2026-10-22 for #17. Procurement search 2026-10-22: No award naming the creative agency found; coverage says Nationwide-led 'marketing experts' from the Ohio Opioid Education Alliance produced it. USAspending shows one OhioMHAS SOR subaward to Daryl Graham Media LLC (USD 90,208, Sep 2021, 'OHIO SOR'); weak lead. Ohio Checkbook and OhioBuys were not searchable by campaign here.

Record cases/oh-beat-the-stigma.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign