Charlie Simon
Staff Writer
Three Colorado College alums continue to remain in the national news for their appearance in a noted ad for the Affordable Care Act.
The ad was used to market Obamacare to younger people: two college-age “bros” with
baseball caps are holding up their friend, who is doing a keg-stand. The ad says, “Brosurance: Keg stands are crazy. Not having health insurance is crazier. Don’t tap into your beer money to cover those medical bills. We got it covered.”
The three, Sam Brody ’13, Zach Atchinson ’13, and Rob Preston ’13, first garnered attention in late October when the ad originally came out, but still remain in the limelight because of television programs such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
A recent segment of The Daily Show, broadcast on Jan. 8 featured the ads, gently mocking and poking fun at them.
But CC’s involvement in the project goes deeper than just modeling; Nina Roumell ‘13 works at the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, the organization that created the ad. She helped spearhead the efforts of the group in putting together the ad.
“We wanted to start a campaign to raise people’s awareness about the new health insurance option, and we targeted specific demographics, and one those was young adults,” says Roumell.
In pursuit of suitable models for the project, she sought out the three alumni, saying, “Zach and Sam are my good friends from CC, and they were willing to help a friend out. I needed a few bros, so I called the best people I knew.”
The Colorado Consumer Health Initiative was working on a shoestring budget making the ads, so three alumna agreed to do the ads voluntarily – they didn’t even keep the keg. “We did not pay them in beer. They were in paid in my love and gratitude,” says Roumell.
By all metrics, the ad has been a wild success. Because of huge social media traffic surrounding the ad, the Health Initiative knows they are reaching their intended audiences. The ads have been debated heavily since their debut, but the negative critiques of the ads do not faze Roumell: “There are people who have liked the ads and there are people who haven’t like the ads, but the fact is people are talking about the ads, and by people taking about the ads, that’s people talking about health insurance, and it’s bringing it up in conversation and that’s objective, so I think the ad campaign has been a success.”
She concedes that some may have misunderstood the ads, but, she says, “to make a mark, you have to be a little provocative sometimes.”