In a bid to raise awareness for cervical cancer, there is a latest advertisement with 3 ladies doing the famous Marilyn Monroe skirt blowing pose. If you haven’t seen it, come by Raffles Place Exchange and I guarantee that you wouldn’t miss it.
As a lady, I find it distasteful and crude as the tagline goes, “Lift your skirt, save your life.”
I’m betting my money that the person who thought of this must be a guy. As a marketer in the insurance line, I am aware that cervical cancer is one of the top 10 cancers affecting Singaporean women. Each year, 200 women are diagnosed with the disease and 70 of them die from it (Source: Singapore Cancer Society). And one way to prevent it, is to go for yearly pap smear. Yes, one where you have to lift your skirt up for.
Some people who have expressed their unhappiness over the ad and have been labelled as prudes. Yet others applauded this forward and bold ad that have got people talking about it. But seriously, I think the intention is to not only raise the awareness (pun intended) but also to get the ladies to get themselves checked.
I can’t help but think about what they’ll use to promote awareness for prostate cancer. Perhaps, “Drop your pant, save your life?”
But at the end of the day, this is no laughing matter so make your appointment for your free pap smear from now to 31 May 2013. This is just me way to raise awareness for cervical cancer.
Tagged: cancer
By provoking a reaction from you, the ad has already achieved its objective. From the perspective of someone who works both in public health and communications, and as a woman, I think there is nothing wrong with this ad.
As a marketer I do agree, but I don’t like asking people to ask me to lift my skirt :p Maybe I’m not such a modern lady as I think I am.
It’s an awful campaign, yes it may achieve it’s objective, but it’s crude and distasteful
I do hope that this campaign makes people take action and not simply talk about it.
Not like this!
My little girl will be curious why Daddy say cannot show panty to others, but poster is telling otherwise.
There is a better way to bring the message across.
cheers, Andy (SengkangBabies)
Haha, true true.
Same-same, I also thought that there were probably more men behind the campaign than women. One of my friends lost his sister to cervical cancer. She was in her early 30s. The saddest thing about it is that cervical cancer is (mostly?) detectable and treatable. And I think this ad trivialises it. Or maybe that’s just me.