2007 Super Bowl Ad Review: the American Heart Association's 'Gotta Have Heart'

Chances are good that heart health is far from your mind during the Super Bowl. The American Heart Association clearly thinks that it should never be far from your mind. Their 'Gotta Have Heart' ad during the 2007 Superbowl didn't mention their name once, but it did steer viewers to a website where they can take a simple quiz to see how risk factors may be effecting their heart health.

So, how is the American Heart Association going to make this message worthy of a Super Bowl spot?

We start off with the average-guy-looking Heart walking down the street. The shot switches to the clearly-bad guy watching him from above. The bad guy is labeled High Blood Pressure. With a dramatic jump down onto the street, he lands right next to Heart.

Heart looks only mildly concerned at first, but Diabetes is flying in from his other side. Overweight pulls up in front of him in a van and High Cholesterol steps up behind him.

Poor Heart has no chance, and ends up tossed into the van in short order. After a few twists and turns down the street, the van pulls into a deserted, trash strewn alley where Heart is roughed up by the bad guys. He ends up on the ground beneath the graffiti 'Beat Your Risk.com".

I think the message came across quite clear, though a lot of people may not want to hear it. These four are known risk factors for a heart attack. It's basically like the bad guys grab a billboard and announce their target.

Unfortunately, too many people ignore these risk factors and the American Heart Association is right to be concerned. Viewers are almost certainly not going to turn away from the Super Bowl to hop online and check out how they can help themselves. Of course, they are not likely to wander away from the TV any other time they see this commercial, either.

The American Heart Association managed to make an interesting and enjoyable commercial about a very serious problem. With luck, people will remember this commercial enough to consider checking out the site when they are online. When it comes to your health, taking steps to improve it is always 'better late than never'.

View it here: