'Inequality You Can't Ignore' campaign combined multiple channels to achieve its desired effect.

We utilized extremely targeted outdoor placements (high-traffic areas near hospitals in the broader NYC area where hospital employees were likely to travel). Scanning a QR code on the poster activates an AR experience with hard-hitting facts about the biases Black women face, and then takes users to a microsite where they can learn even more, sign up for Unconscious Bias training, and obtain important resources.

In the US, studies show that breast cancer care is not equal, with Black women being 42% more likely to face mortality when compared to White women. A key contributor to this disparity is the unconscious bias among healthcare providers. But little has been done to change this reality. We wanted to make doctors aware of this disparity and help open their eyes to any blind spots and procedural issues that could be unknowingly perpetuating the problem.

Although we see racial disparities in breast cancer care in the news, the issue has persisted and has not been taken seriously by the medical community.

This inequality should never be ignored.

Armed with hard-hitting facts about the biases Black women face, raw and bold portraits, and digital storytelling, we set out to create an (augmented) reality check that forced doctors to face racial inequities in breast cancer care.

‘Inequality You Can't Ignore’ is a campaign geared towards health care providers, and initially intended to be displayed in hospital lobbies. When they declined or dismissed our request, our campaign was placed on surrounding bus shelters instead — so it couldn't be ignored.

The campaign's integration is a combination of hyperlocal out-of-home advertising (bus shelters right outside hospital doors), an augmented reality experience, and a campaign landing page where doctors could sign up for Unconscious Bias training.

We asked several hospitals to display our campaign in their lobbies; however, they all declined or dismissed the request. So, our approach changed from indoors to outdoors: we placed the campaign right outside hospital doors on bus shelters that dotted the commuting lines hospital employees were likely to travel.

Our campaign featured women who were negatively affected by discrimination in their breast cancer care. The photography depicts the women with the inequality symbol painted across their breasts in white – highlighting the disparity in outcomes between white women and Black women. Scanning a QR code on the poster activates an AR experience with hard-hitting facts about the biases Black women face, and then takes users to a microsite where they can learn even more, sign up for Unconscious Bias training, and obtain important resources.

The campaign launched in the month of February/'23 to coincide with Black History Month in the US and ran until the end of March/'23 — which ironically, was also Women's History Month. We placed the campaign in over 100 bus shelters in high-traffic areas near hospitals in the broader NYC area, where hospital employees were likely to travel.

As a result, over 2158 healthcare providers interacted with the campaign and 27 hospitals nationwide are now implementing the Unconscious Bias training in their curriculum. Although there is still a lot of work to be done, the Chrysalis Initiative refused to give up or be ignored.

Racial discrimination has shaped many American institutions and it's no surprise that health care is among them. People of color receive less care — and often worse care — than white Americans, and unconscious bias plays a key role in how doctors favor white patients over racial and ethnic minority populations.

Consequently, their health outcomes are worse than those of whites: Black women are 42% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women; 6 times more likely to develop metastatic cancer; 3 times as likely to experience discrimination during treatment; more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage when it's more difficult to treat; 2 times more likely to experience a delay in treatment. Furthermore, they represented only 3% of participants in breast cancer clinical trials from 2008–2018.

We want to show doctors the magnitude of these disparities and encourage them to confront their own unconscious biases.

'Inequality You Can't Ignore', is a project to spread awareness about the disparities Black women face in their breast cancer care.

In systematically biased pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, Black women face more barriers to accessing care such as clinical testing, preventive services, and acute treatment, than white women. A key contributor to this inequality is the unconscious bias doctors have toward Black patients, but due to it being 'unconscious', it's difficult to acknowledge and control.

This inequality still persists and has not been taken seriously by the industry. It can no longer be ignored.

The US has strict regulations enforced by The Food and Drug Administration. This work was not regulated.

Healthcare Professional, Hospital employees