Life has its ups and downs, it’s positive and negatives. Things happen, situation arises, circumstances go wrong but life still goes on. Life doesn’t wait for anyone or anything. You need to keep a watch on your response and make sure that you don’t react. It’s important to make sure that you deal with whatever comes your way in a positive manner by calmly understanding and analysing it.
The most negative things might also have something in positive; you just need to look at it in a different manner, a different way. This fact was perfectly conveyed by The Indian Association of Palliative Care (IAPC) by introducing a campaign which talks about death. Talking about death is a taboo in India- making death the main focus of their camping by uniquely cracking jokes about death by making people comfortable around that topic.
The #LaughAtDeath campaign famously also known as the last laugh, was conceptualised by Medulla Communications. It is a stand-up comedy show presented by palliative care patients where they laugh at their terminal illnesses.
Amit Akali, Chief Creative Officer of Medulla Communications, said, “This was the most difficult (almost impossible) project of our lives. Made easy and possible by the patients, eager to share their stories and make the most of their last days. They moved us with their courage and floored us with their live performances, some of them taking the stage for the first time in 85 years. They opened their lives to the stand-up comics and rehearsed hard for days.”
Mihir Chitre, Creative Group Head, Medulla Communications, was just happy to work with the patients, “The most rewarding part of this campaign has been interacting with the terminally ill patients. I think they’ve changed the way I look at life.”
It took alot of time and energy to understand and how to go about the concept. From hundreds of terminally ill paitents that IAPC members support daily these few were selected and were trained by India’s best stand-up comedians- Kunal Kamra, Kashyap, Vinay Sharma, Punit Pania, Shriram R and Anand Reghu.
The creative agency not only met the palliative care patients but also understood their stories.
The real performances with the twist and turns which came as a surprise to the people were emotional. This event took place at Cuckoo Club, Bandra. Doctors, family and relatives were invited to be in the audience at the event.
Praful Akali, Founder and MD, Medulla, added, “This is not just a campaign but an on-going project and platform for terminally ill patients to share their stories and spread awareness on palliative care. Love it because it brings alive the power of palliative care in a real way. It is about the strongest demo campaign you’ll ever see.”
This campaign was launched on various digital platforms and radio.
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