Sex and Satire Help a Pair of Cancer Charities Sell a Message About Breasts

Organizations that try to prevent disease often face a tough time getting their messages across. But two breast-cancer groups got attention with humor. One mimicked a tactic that wouldn’t be unfamiliar on Madison Avenue; the other openly mocked nonprofit groups’ heart-tugging appeals.

Rethink Breast Cancer used the power of sex to deliver its message in a video called “Your Man Reminder,” featuring buff, shirtless men who instruct viewers on how to conduct a self-exam and to encourage them to get mammograms. The Toronto organization knew that a humorous yet sexy take would be the best way to get young women’s interest.

In the video, the men preen in various states of undress as another man shows viewers how he checks his own chest.

The video urges viewers to download the charity’s smartphone application so they can pick one of the hunks on the video to send them a reminder to get a checkup.

“We wanted to do something bold and different,” says Alison Gordon, co-founder of Rethink Breast Cancer. Already, the app has been downloaded 70,000 times, and the video has been viewed 2 million times.

The group used the video in its holiday fundraising campaign, telling potential supporters that their donations might allow them to see an extended version of the video ad. On Facebook, the group wrote: “If we reach our holiday fundraising goal before the New Year, we’ll release an extended cut—more abs, more dance moves, more TLC!” The holiday drive raised about $20,000.

The video got a push last month when it was cited as one of the 10 winners in the category of “Ads Worth Spreading” at the TED conference, an annual gathering of leaders in business and technology.

Public-Service Spoof

Another video that focused on breast cancer got attention by satirizing somber public-service announcements.

Last fall, the staff at Comediva, a Web site that makes comical videos and creates other features aimed at women, produced a video to commemorate October’s Breast Cancer Awareness month with the theme: “Breasts: 2 of the 7 natural wonders of the world.”

The Comediva video starts out like so many public-service announcements, with pictures of baby animals nursing, a narrator intoning serious statements, and background music that is sometimes soothing and sometimes maudlin.

But the video’s narrator mocks such emotional video appeals as Sarah McLachlan’s pitch for abused animals. (“Without breasts,” declares Riki Lindhome, the actress who narrates, “none of us would ever have known the sweet, sweet sounds of Dolly Parton’s music.”)

The video encourages viewers to become a “Breastivist” by “adopting a pair of breasts” through a donation to Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s Los Angeles County affiliate or buying a specially designed T-shirt with the video’s slogan.

“We wanted a spin on those cheesy PSA’s that make you feel really guilty about animals,” says Erika Cervantes, chief executive of Comediva.

Besides producing the video, Comediva employees also built a Web page for the effort that featured 50 pictures of covered breasts that people could send to friends on social networks after they made a gift.

Komen’s Los Angeles affiliate simply had to cover the fees for the Web site developer; the rest of the work was supplied free by Comediva.

Matthew Hourihan, development coordinator at Komen for Los Angeles County, says people might think breast-cancer survivors would be offended by the brazenness of the video’s concept. On the contrary, he says, it left people feeling “happy, empowered, and inspired. That’s the one thing missing in a lot of those PSA’s. So many people try to go for the serious and sad. It’s a lot nicer when you kind of laugh and enjoy it.”