Ad campaign says 'real men wear gowns'

Rockville, Md -- A U.S. government agency and The Advertising Council are waging an ad campaign urging middle-aged men to increase preventive medical testing, officials said.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services, is conducting the campaign with the Ad Council. The ads point out that men are 25 percent less likely than women to have visited the doctor within the past year and are 38 percent more likely than women to have neglected their cholesterol tests.

Men are also 1.5 times more likely than women to die from heart disease, cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases, so the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Ad Council want men to know that "real men wear gowns" and get medical screening.

The campaign encourages men over age 40 to learn which preventive screening tests they need to get and when they need to get them.

Created pro bono for the Ad Council by McCann Erickson Detroit, the public service advertising campaign includes television, radio, print and Web advertising, involving ads incorporating family as a key motivating factor for men to take a more active role in preventive health.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.