Woodstock Sentinel-Review 'Booby Wall' among campaigns taking new twist on breast cancer awareness

Tuesday, January 15, 2008 Page: 11 Section: News Byline: BY LAUREN LA ROSE, AP AND CP Dateline: From ample to petite, bra-clad to bare-chested, a succession of snapshots of female breasts line the wall of the online gallery. Anything that's new and different that people find inherently interesting can be used as leverage to get Sliding the cursor across the photos, the images your message across, said Robin Ritchie, an assistant become obscured behind a bright pink background professor of marketing at the University of Western and messages typed in white text spring to the fore. Ontario's Richard Ivey School of Business. It quickly becomes evident the photos are far "Nowhere is that more important than as social cause removed from the typically titillating scantily clad advertising because people inherently don't need to fare readily accessible on the web. pay attention to this. It's not like, `I need a car, so I'll pay attention to car advertising,"' he said from "Four-year survivor," writes a woman identified as London, Ont. Janet. "It's particularly important, I think, for charities like The photo shows her right breast bare. The left breast this to find interesting ways to get people to pay is gone. attention, and certainly something this cheeky might be a little riskier for a commercial marketer." "I'm a pink flamingo!" writes Shannon, sporting a fluorescent pink boa over her bare bosom. "This is "I think because they are unmistakably a good cause, for all the women that have been affected by breast they can afford to take a little more licence than a cancer... let's find a cure!!!" commercial marketer might be able to." Pink ribbons and fundraising runs are among the A recent cross- initiative by the Canadian familiar symbols in heightening awareness of breast Breast Cancer Foundation in Chatelaine magazine cancer. had four main messages about risk reduction on a card using visual tie-ins: getting active (tennis balls), But several recent marketing campaigns are going eating well (apples), limiting alcohol (cocktail even further by using provocative ads and online umbrellas) and living smoke-free (two empty initiatives to inform the public about the disease, in a ashtrays). It also drives users to the web for more bid to distinguish themselves from the pack while information on reducing their risk. connecting with a younger demographic. Focus testing revealed 95 per cent of respondents Such is the case with The Booby Wall, a virtual, said the card was a good way to communicate ideas interactive exhibit of breasts recently launched by about healthy lifestyle and liked the way the message charity Rethink Breast Cancer and Schick Quattro for was presented, said Sharon Wood, CEO of the Women. foundation's Ontario region. As of Monday, the site has had more than 450,000 © 2008 Corporation. All rights reserved. unique visitors from more than 100 countries. Close to 600 images have been uploaded, and the site provides information on Rethink's TLC -- Touch, Look, Check -- approach to breast awareness, which includes encouraging women to be mindful of changes in size, shape, texture in breasts as well as checking for lumps. "There's been so much awareness about breast cancer that sometimes you need to shake it up a little bit because young women can become immune to the message," said MJ DeCouteau, executive director of Rethink Breast Cancer. "You see the pink ribbon everywhere, and they know it's an important cause, but they do need that reminder to actually take action."

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