Breasts and Cancer: Ads too sexy?
Breasts and Cancer: Ads too sexy
-Trevor Lee
Check out this ad (ink above) for a non-profit organization, Rethink Breast Cancer. Critics say the ad, created by Canadian MTV host Aliya-Jasmine Sovani, goes too far to get its point. Too much boobie, they argue. I don’t think that’s the problem though. I think the question is: What is it’s point? What is the message? Apparently it’s to raise awareness and educate men about breast cancer. So Sovani’s solution? Lets focus on her chest!
Does her ad show off her assets? Yes. Will it raise awareness of breast cancer to men? Probably. Unfortunately, men do constitute approximately half of the population. So, more importantly, which male segment is she really trying to communicate to? Teenage boys? College students? Typical males who want to check women’s breasts for lumps?
Sovani (or who ever else was involved in this creative) might want to rethink the message being communicated here. We can agree that everyone should be aware of the symptoms of breast cancer, and all it’s horrid effects, but an ad like this is questionable and is it really achieving any objectives?
Donations of time, money, and effort to independently educate themselves about breast cancer, I would argue, aren’t coming from the people she’s targeted with this strategy.
However, she get’s an A for effort and a D for, well, her boobs.
– Trevor Lee
The newest contributor to the Definium Design Group blog is Trevor Lee.
Trevor, a brand strategist and planner, believes a brand is the most important asset a company must manage to create a sustainable competitive advantage. To him, almost everything else falls under the brand umbrella.
He currently calls ‘The Big Smoke’ home, but before arriving in London, England, he spent several years at The Beat 94.5 in Vancouver, Canada, where he implemented promotional campaigns for the station and for clients like McDonald’s, Rogers Wireless, Mazda, and Vancity Credit Union.
Trevor holds an M.Sc. in Strategic Marketing from Cranfield School of Management, and a B.A. from the University of Waterloo.