ABC and Campbells Talk Healthy Hearts

Alicia Minshew Erika Slezak Kirsten Storms
ABC Daytime is teaming up with Campbells to promote Women's Health Month.

Between the special storylines in the shows and the public service announcement featuring ABC talent carrying the heart-health message, “The audience sees that the actors they are watching every day care about them and their health, so it’s a terrific opportunity for us as well,” says ABC Daytime President Brian Frons.

The heart-health theme has been integrated into ABC’s soaps in different ways. All three ABC shows features a prominent character who is a heart transplant recipient. One Life To Lives Viki Davidson(Erika Slezak)has the heart of her late husband Ben. General Hospital's Maxie Jones (Kirsten Storms) has the heart of cousin BJ. Earlier this year, All My Children's Kendall Hart Slater (Alicia Minshew) received the heart of her brother Josh.

On “All My Children,” the hospital will open a new cardiac wing with a luncheon sponsored on the show by Campbell. Actual Campbell executives will appear in the episodes, Ms. Milway said.

On “One Life to Live,” characters Vicki and Dorian will co-host the second annual Valentine’s Day Go Red Ball, which is sponsored by Campbell.

“General Hospital” will feature an episode recalling its heart-transplant storyline with an “It’s a Wonderful Life” twist. The character Maxie, is an employee of a magazine that’s donating a dress to be worn at a Go Red gala.

“Because we own our own shows, we can really directly and quickly sit down with our exec producers and head writers, and because they’ve had some success with it, I think now they actually look at it as an opportunity to sort of outdo each other in terms of being entertaining and informative at the same time,” Mr. Frons said. “We actually enhanced the entertainment value of the shows and we actually had a happy client. We don’t get to have everybody happy at the same time very often in TV.”

All Children, One Life To Life and General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC and on weeknights on SOAPnet.

To learn more visit the website: ABC.com