By Michelle Burford
A crop of breast cancer awareness PSAs are using D-cup cleavage to
capture the attention of young women. One ad, which features a
long-legged female flaunting her ample breasts in a bikini as onlookers
ogle, contains the tagline, "You know you love them…it's time to save
the boobs." Another PSA, called the "Yoplait Pledge," refers to the
breasts as "cheechees," "hooters" and "tatas." Are these clever
marketing strategies that deliver a life-saving point, or do they
disrespect women's bodies? The answer depends on who you ask.
"It portrays the lead woman as a sex object," says Angela J. Lamb, MD,
a medical resident at the University of Minnesota. "It may have been
the producers' intent to grab attention and get folks to take a hard
look at this issue, but some of the message may be lost in the
distraction of the overly sexual nature of the PSA. Also, the PSA does
not provide information about breast self-exams or doctor visits."
Click on the video below to see the PSA that's causing so much buzz.
Jean-Marie Bradford, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, adds her perspective: "Keeping breast cancer prevention at the forefront of people's minds and compelling them to action are worthy goals and likely the intended goals of these PSAs," she says. "Yet I think effective PSAs that don't sexually objectify women's bodies can be developed."
Even if the ads aren't successful in prompting women to schedule a check-up or look for lumps, the PSAs do seem to have scored a win in one regard: The ads have young women buzzing about the issue. Amy Landesman, 39, a training director for a non-profit in Manhattan, says the ads are perfect for reaching the under-40 crowd. "I do not find them offensive, and in fact, they're a refreshing change from some of the somber, scare tactic ads that are popular now," she says. "The PSAs are fun and playful, and they have a hip, Gap-like quality to them. If there is a controversy around these ads, I think that is a little silly."
The "Save the Boobs" PSA began as the video promo for an event to raise funds for Rethink Breast Cancer, a Toronto-based charity that supports cancer research and education. Veejay Aliyah Jasmine Sovani, co-host of Canada's "MTV Live," is the buxom brunette showcased in the ad. She is also the creative director of the spot -- one she invented just days after she learned that her cousin had been diagnosed with breast cancer. "Instead of making breast cancer awareness month about an old grandma getting a mammogram and making it clinical, I thought, 'let's be real with it,'" says Sovani in a behind-the-scenes clip about the ad's creation, "Let's make it very MTV, because the truth is that we all love boobs, so let's celebrate boobs and save the boobs."
Maura Young, the Director of Finance for Rethink Breast Cancer and a breast cancer survivor who lost both her mother and aunt to the disease, says that Sovani's "Save the Boobs" promotion first exploded on youtube.com, and then was later picked up by American media as a PSA. "The people we are trying to educate are women in their 20s, 30s and early 40s," Young says, "and a lot of the literature isn't aimed at these women. It's aimed at postmenopausal women. That's why we tend to have edgier messages that shock people a little, because young women are bombarded with media, and they're quite able to filter out what they don't want to see. We wanted to put something out [there] that would have an impact. In terms of the ad's effectiveness as an educational awareness campaign, that's hard to gauge. But, we hope that women will be a bit more aware of their breasts, and if they think something is wrong, check it out."
Breast cancer survivor Sheryl Ellinwood of Lake Red Rock, Iowa, believes that the PSAs will indeed stand out in a crowded media environment where advertisers must vie for viewers' sustained attention. Although she doesn't think that any of the PSAs are offensive, Ellinwood says the ads fall short in communicating a clear message. "There's no takeaway, other than to be a little more aware of your breasts -- and, come on, we're already aware of our breasts," she says. Last year Ellinwood discovered a tumorous lump that had gone undetected by her earlier mammograms, prompting her to pen, "Empowered: A Woman-to-Woman Guide to Preventing and Surviving Breast Cancer." The book presents Ellinwood's research on how to decrease the risk of developing cancer through, for instance, dietary changes.
Whether the focus should be on prevention or early detection of breast cancer, this controversial group of PSAs at least has women paying attention to a disease that will claim more than 40,000 lives in 2009. "The Yoplait Pledge reminds women of how important it is to care for their breasts, but I could live without hearing the breasts referred to by all those nicknames," says a Yonkers, New York, nurse practitioner who asked to remain anonymous. "I think we can find a more tasteful way to get the public's attention." Yet whatever these ads may lack in appropriateness, some Gen-Xers contend that they succeed in drawing -- and keeping -- women's eyeballs. Says Landesman: "My favorite is the Yoplait pledge. I think it's an ad that will really stick with viewers." For the sake of the one in eight women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime, let's hope that it does.
