The Pink of Health
By Brett McKenzie on Oct 19, 2018
Six award-winning campaigns that fight back against breast cancer
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month here in the US, when countless initiatives seek to draw attention to the disease that affects 1 in 8 women. Advertising agencies have long been involved in coming up with unique ways to both raise awareness and encourage action in detecting, treating and ultimately finding a cure. We looked into our One Show and ADC Annual Awards archives to highlight a handful of campaigns that moved us over recent years.
1.
Social media has long had a problem with nudity, opting to censor almost any image of the female breast, no matter the context. DDB Germany decided to take advantage of Facebook's overzealous practices in a bold campaign for Pink Ribbon Deutschland. With its double entendre tagline, they encouraged women to explore and spread the campaign before the censors could quash it. "Check It Before It's Removed" won two Gold and two Silver Pencils in 2017, as well as a Best In Discipline honor for Social Media.
2.
In 1990, Australian rock band the Divinyls scored a worldwide hit with "I Touch Myself," an ode to female eroticism. 23 years later, Chrissy Amphlett, the band's frontwoman succumbed to a long battle with breast cancer. The following year, JWT Sydney and Cancer Council NSW (a charity founded by Amphlett's family) turned the hit song into a stirring campaign to inspire women to self-examine, with an Australian celebrity-filled video for the song giving new meaning to its lyrics. The video earned a Bronze Pencil in 2015.
3.
Raising breast cancer awareness is an extremely worthy cause, but what should you do for the women who have already been diagnosed? Cards and flowers are nice, but lg2 Toronto and Rethink Breast Cancer wanted to find a better way for friends and loved ones to communicate with new patients. This led to the Give-A-Care Collection, a series of helpful products branded in a way that shakes up the conversation in a fun but meaningful way. The Collection won a Bronze Cube at the ADC 96th Annual Awards.
4.
There hasn’t been a major advancement in breast cancer screening beyond mammography in many years, and in some parts of the world, mammography is either unavailable or prohibitively expensive. Area 23 and Cyrcadia Health seek to combat this problem by developing the iTBra, a wearable intelligent bra insert that has the potential to detect breast cancer earlier and more accurately than mammograms. The iTBra was acknowledged with a Merit during this year's One Show.
5.
Will 2050 mark the year that breast cancer is finally conquered? In this moving video by Great Guns director Duncan Christie for Breast Cancer Now, an inventive young girl certainly wishes so, as she constructs a time machine that she hopes will transport her mom to better times. "2050" was recognized by this year's One Show for its Craft in Direction.
6.
We end this list on a lighter note, and with a different take on censorship on social media. As mentioned before, the female breast — and especially the nipple — is verboten across most social media platforms. Mens' nipples? Not so much. To poke fun at this double standard, DAVID Buenos Aires and MACMA created a breast examination video that would surely get around censors, since the breasts involved belong to a portly man. "Manboobs4Boobs" won two One Show Gold Pencils in 2017.
The One Show 2019 and the ADC 98th Annual Awards are both open for entries.
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