Can a PSA nightie make cancer prevention sexy?

When it comes to breast cancer prevention in social marketing, there is a great generational divide. On one side, you have older women in the high-risk age group who prefer the more visionary "pink" approach. On the other are (usually) younger women, who react to cancer prevention as part of protecting and nurturing their sexuality. (See "I love boobies", "Boobyball", etc.)

The Feel Your Boobies Foundation definitely falls into the latter camp. Founded by a woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer at 33, it uses sexualized humour to encourage regular self- and partner-assisted examination.

Released juts in time for October is this cheeky cami set. It comes with the disclaimer, "We do not take responsibility for anyone who wears this tank top for anything other than sleeping :-)"

What do you think of this approach? Is it appropriate? Is it helpful? Or is it just harmless cause-branded fun?

Busting out the double entendres for breast cancer

I got word last weekend from MTV Canada's Aliya Jasmine Sovani, better known to the world as the star of last year's controversial and popular "Save The Boobs" video, that this year's promo video is out.

Interestingly, after last year's swimsuit edition provoked controversy over the sexualization of breast cancer, this year the Boobyball crew decided to take a more humorous approach to promoting their Rethink Breast Cancer charity party:



Okay, so it's pretty goofy. But at least they had some fun with the send-up of 70s porn.

Unfortunately, as of this writing, the video is still unavailable on YouTube. I can only imagine that MTV, after seeing diverse postings of last year's video getting hundreds of thousands of hits, decided that all that traffic should be directed to their corporate site.

The problem is, the video is not easy to share or embed. This will inevitably lead to far fewer views, and far less awareness for this year's event.

One-upwomanship

I'll just link to the topless video, to pander to those of you at prudish workplaces, but Osocio Weblog reports on a Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaign that does Boobyball's tease one (okay, "two") better by focussing on breasts au naturel:

Where ReThink Breast Cancer failed in their communication for this years Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Pink Ribbon magazine made a wonderfull approach: Circle of life. The campaign shows the evoluation in womens life. Don’t let breast cancer interrupt.

Not sure if I should have corrected the ESL writing, but you get the point. Scroll down for a tasteful print version:



God bless the Europeans (in this case, Grey Amsterdam), for taking an honest and woman-centric approach

Too much?

Maybe for this blog, if not for the cause. But here goes. It's a jiggly new PSA for Boobyball, an annual Toronto event "to inspire a new generation of young philanthropists to get involved and create a future without breast cancer".

Let's see what this ad inspires in you:



In case you're wondering who is exploiting whom, the woman in the ads is Aliya Jasmine Sovani, from MTV Canada. She's the co-chair of the event in support of Rethink Breast Cancer, and the writer, co-producer and Creative Director of the spot.

Here's what she thinks of it:



The basic idea is that young people aren't responding to breast cancer information featuring older women and sad situations. The ad is designed to appeal to a generation who have grown up with "Girls Gone Wild" and a generally "show me" culture. So instead of talking about disease and death, the PSA talks about how much everyone loves breasts.

Knowing (older) people who have, or have had, breast cancer, I'm not so sure they'd find this approach tasteful or appropriate. On the other hand, so many ads use breasts to get attention to sell useless things. At least these ones are out there for a cause.

What do you think?

**UPDATE: This viral has made CNN. The question now is, will the spot raise the profile of breast cancer prevention and detection worldwide, or just that of Ms. Sovani?**

**UPDATE 2: Kerry wanted to know what the song in the video was, so I creeped Aliya Jasmine on Facebook, and passed on the query. She wrote back to say it's called "The girl is Mine" by Rosnick. Can't find a band link, but thanks for the intel! (I am still, however, awaiting confirmation on that friend request...)