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June 8, 2011 7:08 am ET

While women today are confident and in control of their relationships
and career, new survey findings reveal they may not be taking the same
initiative when it comes to an important health decision. Merck
announced today that they are proudly teaming up with actress JoAnna
Garcia Swisher to launch Let’s Go There, a campaign celebrating women’s
“don’t settle” mindset and encouraging them to “get real” and talk to
their healthcare provider about their birth control options. This
campaign, debuting today on Facebook, is the culmination of a robust
survey conducted on behalf of Merck by Harris Interactive among 2,000
U.S. women ages 20-39 which uncovered that some women may be stuck in a
rut when it comes to their birth control.

“My girlfriends and I often share our tips and secrets on how we manage
to juggle everything in our lives without ever having to settle. As the
daughter of an OB/GYN, I learned from an early age the importance of
educating myself to better understand my health options,” said JoAnna
Garcia Swisher. “I am excited to partner with Merck on Let’s Go There to
encourage other women to take charge of all aspects of your life,
whether career or relationships, or most importantly – your health.
Today, with all the different birth control options available, it’s
important to take time to talk to your healthcare provider about what
method best fits your lifestyle.”

Let’s Go There reminds women that whatever stage of life they’re in,
modern women don’t need to settle for what’s not working even with their
birth control. With their busy and often demanding schedules, a majority
of women using hormonal birth control (52 percent) admit that they
rarely evaluate how well their birth control method fits their lifestyle
needs. Most women using hormonal birth control (86 percent) claim they
are satisfied or very satisfied with their current method. Yet
interestingly, 7 in 10 (70 percent) would change something about it; of
those who would change something about their current birth control
method, 43 percent would change having to take it every day.

“This new survey highlights that women may not be proactive when it
comes to their health,” said Dr. Michelle Vichnin, Director of Medical
Affairs at Merck. “Merck is excited about this campaign because it will
encourage women to talk with their healthcare providers about finding
birth control options that fit their lifestyles .”

Additional Survey Findings

Today’s woman has a take charge attitude: 87 percent of women feel
comfortable expressing her opinion and 69 percent feel comfortable
“making the first move” with her significant other or a potential
partner she’s interested in. In fact, 72 percent of women stated they
refuse to settle for anything less than what truly makes them happy.

Most women say they would seek out new employment or a new assignment if
they felt unsatisfied with their job (78 percent)2 and nearly 9 out of
10 (87 percent) unmarried women say they would end a relationship if
they felt unsatisfied with someone they were dating.While more than 2 in
3 women using hormonal birth control (68 percent) have ever considered
changing their current method, only a third (32 percent) have considered
doing so within the past year.When it comes to what makes them happy,
women are more likely to value their physical health (54 percent) than
their looks (38 percent), and more women care about what they do for a
living (42 percent) than how much money they make (27 percent).

Let’s Go There Facebook Page

As part of the Let’s Go There campaign Merck and JoAnna have launched a
Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/letsgothere).
Women are invited to join a community of others and learn more about
JoAnna’s story, the survey findings and receive tips and tools on how to
embrace the modern woman mindset and prioritize this important health
decision.

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris
Interactive on behalf of Merck from March 2-15, 2011 among 2,000 women
ages 20-39. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and
therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
Additional statistics are available on the Let’s Go There Facebook page.
For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and
subgroup sample sizes, please contact letsgothere@mahercomm.com.

About Merck

Today’s Merck is a global healthcare leader working to help the world be
well. Merck is known as MSD outside the United States and Canada.
Through our prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, and
consumer care and animal health products, we work with customers and
operate in more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health
solutions. We also demonstrate our commitment to increasing access to
healthcare through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. For
more information, visit www.merck.com.