A Digital Campaign to Combat Opioid Misuse and Stigma in Fairfax County, Virginia

ERG continued supporting Fairfax County, Virginia, in its efforts to raise awareness about opioid misuse and growing concerns about accidental overdoses from fentanyl. Fairfax County tasked ERG with developing a public awareness campaign to increase awareness around the safe use, storage, and disposal of prescription opioids; decrease the stigma around substance use disorder; raise awareness of local resources; and prevent opioid misuse. In particular, the county sought to reach targeted audiences with social risk factors, including Black, Hispanic, and Latinx/Latine communities; the LGBTQIA+ community; and youth.

Building on our past work, ERG launched a digital ad campaign on Twitter, Nextdoor, and Snapchat. The short, 60-day campaign included English and Spanish ads that received 4.7 million impressions, reached more than 1 million people, and garnered over 167,000 engagement actions, such as likes, comments, shares, retweets, link clicks, and filter uses. ERG researched and developed content for the campaign with a focus on three primary themes: “share,” which reminds audiences to share positive experiences but not their medications; “fentanyl facts,” which provides safety tips about fentanyl-laced substances; and “safe spaces,” which encourages audiences to seek help or help create safe spaces for others. To effectively reach and empower target audiences, ERG employed a culture-first approach at every phase of the work, including developing culturally relevant content specific to target audiences in English and Spanish.