What's in a name? Apparently, letters that really shouldn't go together.
Some of Hollywood's favorite comedians—including Amy Schumer, Will Ferrell, and Hannibal Buress—have teamed up for a new kind of public service announcement: How to pronounce the name of the Johns Hopkins global health affiliate, Jhpiego.
Jhpiego has a great cause—for 40 years and in more than 155 countries, the organization has worked to prevent the needless deaths of women and their families. But its name—once an acronym that stood for Johns Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynecology and Obstetrics—can be a mouthful. The new "Funny or Die" video aims to spread Jhpiego's message while poking a little well-meaning fun at its peculiar name.
More from The Baltimore Sun:
The concept of the video surfaced during an event last spring in Los Angeles when [Jhpiego President and CEO [Leslie Mancuso] met Comedy Central network President Kent Alterman and his wife, Michele Brennan.
"They teased us very much about our name, and said we gotta change our name," she said, noting that the couple thought it was hard to pronounce. "But it really is branded around the world. If you go in most of the countries ... people know the name 'Jhpiego.' It's just here [in the U.S.] We needed more people to know about us."
This year, Jhpiego honored the couple at the "Laughter Is the Best Medicine" gala, after they visited Jhpiego's program in Kenya, where they were moved and impressed by the organization's HIV/AIDS prevention, family planning, maternal child health and cervical cancer prevention programs, Mancuso said.
Still, they teased her about the name, urging her to change it.
"We kind of challenged them," she said. "Help us. Tell the story. Convey the importance of our work."
Tagged jhpiego
