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Kids with cancer join the Justice League at one Brazilian hospital

An ad agency is giving young cancer patients new hope with Superformula and Justice League-branded backstories.

 

Fidel Martinez

IRL

Posted on Jun 6, 2013   Updated on Jun 1, 2021, 2:02 pm CDT

At a Brazilian children’s hospital, cancer is no match for the Justice League.

International ad agency JWT has teamed up with clients Warner Bros. and A.C. Camargo Cancer Center—located in São Paulo, Brazil—to launch a campaign that makes children with cancer feel like they’re superheroes.

To do this, JWT devised the “Superformula,” a series of covers for intravenous bags used during chemotherapy that are colorfully decorated with icons of the Justice League—Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Green Lantern.

Like any good comic book story, the Superformula needed a solid origin story, so JWT gave it one.

“To give these covers a more powerful meaning, we started to produce a special series of cartoons and comic books in which the superheroes go through experiences similar to those of kids with cancer, and recover their strength, thanks to this ‘Superformula,'” the ad agency explains in the YouTube video description.

Finally, for even more added effect, the game room at the hospital was converted into the “Hall of Justice.” 

By JWT’s own account, the idea has been successful in “helping the children in their own struggle against one of the real world’s greatest villains.”

Photo via jwtbrazil/YouTube

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*First Published: Jun 6, 2013, 8:41 am CDT