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Record levels of in-home HIV test sales linked to the ‘Charlie Sheen effect’
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After actor Charlie Sheen announced that he was HIV-positive during an interview on NBC’s Today Show on Nov. 17, 2015, researchers found that millions of people conducted online search queries for HIV prevention and testing. In a follow-up study published today in Prevention Science, the same research team discovered that the impact of Sheen’s disclosure, known as the “Charlie Sheen effect,” also resulted in record levels of in-home rapid HIV test sales in the United States.
“Our new findings reinforce how a celebrity can impact health decision-making and make an even stronger case that Sheen’s disclosure promoted HIV prevention, thanks to the availability of rapid in-home HIV testing,” John W. Ayers, PhD, research professor at San Diego University Graduate School of Public Health, and colleagues wrote. “In particular, the public’s health decisions are heavily influenced by public figures and reveal an opportunity for the prevention community to target health behaviors when related issues are widely publicized in the media.”
For their study, the researchers monitored weekly sales of OraQuick (OraSure Technologies, Inc.), the only in-home rapid HIV test available in the United States, from April 12, 2014 to April 16, 2016. They then used data from Google Trends on searches with “test,” “tests,” or “testing” and “HIV” to determine whether the increase in internet queries around Sheen’s disclosure correlated with an increase in testing.
The week of Sheen’s disclosure, OraQuick sales reached “record highs”, increasing 95% (95% CI, 75-117) and remaining elevated for 4 weeks (P = .018), the researchers reported. Sales were nearly eight times greater than sales recorded the week of World AIDS Day, which increased just 31% (95% CI, 12-24) and returned to expected levels the next week. Overall, there were 1,122 more sales than expected during the week of World AIDS Day vs. 8,225 excess sales attributed to the “Charlie Sheen effect.”
“Our findings build on earlier studies that suggest empathy is easier to motivate others when the empathy is targeted toward an individual vs. a group,” Jon-Patrick Allem, PhD, research scientist at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, said in a press release. “It is easy to imagine that a single individual, like Sheen, disclosing his HIV status may be more compelling and motivating for people than an unnamed mass of individuals or a lecture from public health leaders.”
According to the release, the researchers’ top takeaway from the follow-up study is that the findings support their past analyses of Google search data.
“Public health leaders are often cautious, choosing to wait for traditional data instead of taking reasonable action in response to novel data, like internet searches,” Ayers said in the release. “Our findings underscore the value of big media data for yielding rapid intelligence to make public health actionable and more responsive to the public it serves.” – by Stephanie Viguers
Reference:
Ayers JW, et al. JAMA Intern Med. 2016;doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.0003.
Disclosures: Ayers reports sharing an equity stake in Directing Medicine LLC. Please see the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.
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