‘I wish I had breast cancer’ campaign draws flak
With its limited budget, Pancreatic Cancer Action wanted to create advertisements that would ‘provoke thought and initiate discussion.’ So, patients ‘wish’ for cancers with better survival rates.
But when the United Kingdom charity Pancreatic Cancer Action released an ad campaign depicting patients wishing they had other cancers—all with higher survival rates—representatives from other organizations did not take it well.
In one ad, the words “I wish I had breast cancer” are written in a huge font next to pancreatic cancer patient Kerry Harvey’s somber face.
“While the intention of the campaign is great, the adverts are hugely upsetting and incredibly insensitive and divisive,” Dyleth Morgan, chief executive of Breast Cancer Campaign, told CivilSociety last week.
Chris Askew, chief executive of Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said, “I’ve yet to meet a man or woman with breast cancer who would consider themselves in any way fortunate to have received a diagnosis.”
Writing in The Guardian, Pancreatic Cancer Action Chief Executive Ali Stunt explained that the ad, which the organization created with the firm Team Darwin, was designed to spark debate.
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