TORRANCE, Calif. Hisamitsu America on Thursday kicked off its “Join the Pain Free Movement” initiative, a media campaign to promote its line of Salonpas external pain-relief patches.

“The ‘Join the Pain Free Movement’ will entail public relations activities and a comprehensive advertising campaign that will include television, the Internet and print including [periodicals] People, Oprah and Prevention,” stated Joji Nakayama, Hisamitsu America president. “Hisamitsu will also deploy an extensive social media program that will include Facebook, Twitter and a www.jointhepainfreemovement.com Web site.”

Hisamitsu plans to distribute more than 2 million sample patches throughout the campaign.

“Although analgesic patches are well accepted in Japan and the rest of Asia, this is a new concept for the U.S. consumer,” said  Nakayama. “We strongly believe that our products have a huge advantage because we’re the only FDA approved over-the-counter patches.” The Hisamitsu executive stated that his company has done extensive clinical trials and the data is available to complement the products’ marketing program.