Weirdest Cancer Awareness Ads EVER

The awkward, yet hilarious video above is an Icelandic colon cancer awareness ad.  Designed to make you stop and watch, I think they managed to do just that.

And for Ladies we have the ingenious phone app that reminds you to do your own breast exam - using very sexy men.  If anything will get a woman to check her breasts for lumps it's a soft-talking, baby-faced guy with washboard abs and some fierce pecs.

Here's a video to show you exactly what I mean:

Amazing, right?

Now, let's dish into some less appealing manliness.

Some very chalky humor is added to this prostate cancer awareness ad with, naturally, the idea of making an unpleasant experience as light hearted as possible.  No one likes invasive procedures like getting probed by a doctor, which increases the chances of people delaying recommended screenings and missing out on early diagnosis.

The Singapore Cancer Society intended to do the same thing, but with a little more class.
 

Another invasive and uncomfortable procedure, paps are the only exam that can detect cervical cancer.  Why not ease the tension with a Marylin Monroe reference and a bit of crude humor?

This other ad campaign for cervical cancer awareness is equally as crude, but less amusing.

Aimed more at preventing HPV and therefore cervical cancer, this ad appears more like it's promoting STD prevention instead of cancer, but HPV is passed from male to female amid exchange of bodily fluids.  HPV can be prevented in a number of ways including the vaccination, limiting the number of sexual partners, and the usual STD prevention gear. 

Still - a good play on words - avoiding HPV exposure decreases the likelihood of getting cervical cancer

Here's some more tense humor:

Like breast cancer awareness slogans calling for "save the ta-tas" someone somewhere is trying to make sexual cancers less taboo and more appropriate to talk about for our health's sake. 

Skin cancer is the world's most common type of cancer diagnosed.  It doesn't produce super high mortality rates like lung cancer, but skin cancer is not to be taken lightly.  The ad above is a beach towel shaped like a coffin to drill in how you're killing yourself 'cause sunscreen commercials do very little.

 Playing again on crude humor, this ad attempts to show us that there are very few things worse than getting colon cancer.  It also drives home the point that women need to be screened for colon cancer as often as men.

This European colon cancer awareness add is clever visually.  I can't understand the relevance of it, but still it's pretty cool.

This add, however, sets all shame aside - as they should - for this sensitive cause:

Promoting another "below the belt" cancer, the ad is pretty in-your-face, but we love it.

Very open about what they are promoting, right?  Encouraging people to take a second glance, get offended, and then start talking about it, crude humor and outrageous images effectively promote cancer awareness.  Fewer people should feel candid about certain cancers and should not avoid regular screening even if the exam is invasive and uncomfortable.

~Chelsea

The Undeniable Success of Cervical Cancer Screenings

Cervical Cancer deaths have been reduced by 50% in the last 25 years, which is better than most cancer statistics.  We have improved tests and education to thank for this.  Even with such a great outlook cervical cancer screening methods are constantly under attack by various professional bodies.

As of date, a pap smear is the best method of detecting cervical cancer or cervical abnormalities.  Some healthcare authorities see pap smears as costly and unnecessary - suggesting a simple HPV blood test would suffice.  However, HPV does account for 70% or more of cervical cancer cases it still does not test for cancer cells and cervical cancer causes occur for a wide variety of reasons aside from HPV.

In fact - the rate of HPV diagnosis will decrease very soon in the future due to the wide use of the new HPV vaccine Gardasil.  This will make HPV tests less relevant, but still necessary.

Many doctors still see an enormous value in screening for cervical cancer. There is a new push to educate and make people aware of "below the belt" cancers like cervical, ovarian, and colon cancers that many people avoid because of the invasive exams. 

It's crucial to remember cancer does not discriminate; everyone is at risk.  Get tested and survive. 

~ Chelsea

Announcement: The end of colon screening

As of July 1st, 2015 the colon screening program will lose funding.  The CDC has changed its colon cancer grant funding selection process, which is making funding more competitive.  Washington state is unsure of whether the program will be awarded colon funding or not so the closing process for the grant has been implemented and no colon screening kits will be accepted or provided.   Other funding sources for colon screening and prevention are being sought, but the future of the colon cancer screening is uncertain at this point.