The worst cervical cancer campaign ever...

more flowers 💐. It is always a shock and please don’t dismiss your experience.

Yes. I expect that a poster grasped the sentence about a few women would be encouraged by this and dismissed the entire rest of that post. I noted this before but also noted that it is completely reflective of the grasping of the very low bar of success to be celebrated by this campaign. Ie. If you are going to celebrate that a few women are saved by a huge investment of a completely inappropriate sign and press release instead of acknowledging that this campaign needs a much higher level of planning and engagement for the investment it has had, you are very likely to take the post saying just a few will be influenced as reflecting your own low bar of achievement for this communications campaign.

And miss that by failing in this way, this charity has done a massive disservice to the women that they are there to serve! That women should be celebrating crumbs instead of cake, if you see my meaning. It is bizarre to see it. Women absolutely should be fucking expecting better and absolutely this charity needs to read the criticism from women.

And yes, women are absolutely right to criticise this charity for failing them in this way.

If they could just guarantee a kind female HCP who could do them, it would be different for so many of us.

This. I do not to be called a diva, and nor I do not want to be told I shouldn't struggle with the procedure because the HCP does loads of them every week. How on earth would that be relevant? She hasn't been practising with me, has she! It's still a distressing novel experience for me!

@Somanyquestionstoaskaboutthis Good God thats appalling

Thank you for all the flowers. I know many have been through far far worse, and it’s not something I think about but that advert really has upset me.

I'm also sorry that happened @Somanyquestionstoaskaboutthis

If they could just guarantee a kind female HCP who could do them, it would be different for so many of us.

Influential offer *Customer & Prospect Research" and say:
"Without research it is impossible to innovate and without innovation we lose our power to influence the thoughts and actions of others.

Our insight programmes use a combination of focus groups, online qualitative and quantitative surveys, and one-to-one in-depth interviews, to help you make the right decisions for your business, customers and employees."

https://www.influentialmarketing.co.uk/services

I don't know whether NWCR paid Influential to undertake such research before the campaign was created and launched, of course.

If NWCR didn't, perhaps they should have

If they did, they should get their money back.

We will also be accused of twisting her words.

If anyone's words have been twisted today, it's NIMumconfused's post. Fancy turning that carefully considered post into "women working in this area that have said that some would find this empowering".

There’s no point @NeighbourhoodWatchPotholeDivision . None of us are going to get a straight answer.

We’ll just be accused of being men, called misogynists, told to calm down, while also being accused of hurling ‘vile insults’. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I agree. Well they can go fuck off. I have complained to ASA.

Somanyquestionstoaskaboutthis

for you. The ad is just sexual harassment from a charity, and we're supposed to appreciate it. It's revolting.

I've just been through this thread all over again, looking for an example of comments from women working in this area that have said that some would find this empowering and would help to break down the stigma surrounding smear tests - you do not get to say that these women are wrong.

Could you have meant this post from NImumconfused? I reproduce her post below so we can remind ourselves of what she actually said.

You also said if you think you have a better campaign idea, then please go ahead and contact them and let them know and I would fully support it.

Readers, please note that NImumconfused's post did contain suggestions of better campaign ideas, which seem to have been ignored.

NImumconfused

I do some work in the area of screening, including cervical. You could possibly argue that there are some women who will be influenced by campaigns aimed at reducing stigma/embarrassment, perhaps those in the age group where you're going for your first one? So for example our social media stuff which tends to be aimed at younger women will be about not being embarrassed, that the sample takers do this every day, nothing to worry about etc.

Beyond that, non-engagement is much more likely to be related to trauma/pain or cultural issues, and jokey campaigns will get you nowhere. For trauma or pain you need specialist clinics with well trained staff who can take time to talk to individual women and work out how to make them more comfortable - sadly these are few and far between.

Cultural barriers - we work with community groups to run small peer led events, where women can get information and ask questions in a comfortable environment for them.

Both of these approaches work, but they're not quick or cheap. This campaign is the exact opposite of what works with those demographics.

Plus mashing in gender identity issues in the middle of it all just confuses everyone whose literacy or English isn't perfect. Again, we target that group by working with their support organisations to create resources just for them, rather than making our general resources into word salad

I'm not in England but it surprises me how pushy it all sounds there - we've been told to avoid any sense of "should" or "must" because screening has risks as well as benefits.

When I was in my 20s I had my smear test by my male GP with a female chaperone. I didn’t know I had a choice. I visited the same male GP a couple of weeks later about a shoulder injury and he made a comment about my lovely legs, making me feel embarrassed and ( in hindsight) violated. I still didn’t know I could do anything about this. Shortly after this he was struck off for inappropriate relations with a vulnerable patient. I felt my smear had not just been a medical examination to him and it put me off smears for several years.

The next time I had a smear took me ages to pluck up the courage, and it was bleeding after sex that made me go. The female GP I saw made several comments about my weird shaped cervix making it hard for her which again made me embarrassed. She didn’t say we’re all different shapes or make any attempt to relax me.

The next time I went he nurse couldn’t manage and went to get a GP, leaving me undressed for over 5 mins, then the GP couldn’t do it either, probably because I was incapable of relaxing by this point. I was there 45 mins before I said I had to go. They booked me another appt but I cancelled it and haven’t been since.

The billboard in this advert made me feel sick. It took me straight back to my 22yr old self when that male GP said what lovely legs I had.

I would be one of the people this advert is aimed at. What it has achieved is cementing the fact I will never ever go for another smear.

No it is not ‘small’, but it is ‘smaller’ when compared to national organisations and they budget they have. it is doubtful they would have the spend to have put this campaign to robust qualitative research focus groups covering the major groups that needed to reach.

They have limited budget but have chosen this. I don’t believe this is effective use of its budget at all.

You don't engage, because you do not demonstrate any comprehension of the posts you respond to.

This post of yours I am quoting now is a sterling example. You have accused me of dodging the question, when I have clearly answered it. Of course I'm a woman. Why did you ask that, when I had previously already said we were all female? You either ignored what I'd said, or you didn't understand what I was saying. Either way, you were not engaging with the content of posts, so your engagement was scarcely higher than making repeated posts of "dhaljfsliidf snorflewhop".

I'll try this again, using very short words. I recognise most of the usernames on this thread. They are either female, or they have been keeping up a cover of being female for a very long time. However, none of the male regulars on this board have posted on this thread at all.

You seem to be convinced that the only people who could object to this campaign must be men. You have explicitly tried to change the subject to what men might think of the installation multiple times, and you have repeatedly tried to insinuate that women disagreeing with you are male. You're trying it on me now, and you did it to UnremarkableBeasts as well with that sly "s/he".

Got an answer for me @Night409 about how I as a woman with vaginal atrophy (like many menopausal women) am meant to feel empowered & informed by this ridiculous campaign & encouraged to book my smear?

I fucking hate the term empowerment.

and the way patriarchal bullshit is sold to women as ‘empowerment’.

Is this satire?

Sorry, but YOU are dismissing and being quite rude to women voicing their opinions.

Women are not a hive mind and we all have different experiences which shape our view of the world. Many posters have expressed their view that this campaign is badly thought out and I agree. I find it offensive.

Please stop shaming women.

It seems that you’re allowed to dismiss women’s opinions and experiences though. Why is that?

And anyway, your opinion on this advert is not really important because it’s not aimed at you. It’s aimed at women who do not, for various reasons, take up the offer of smear tests. There are many of those women on this thread - and many, many, more on the X thread - that find this not only not persuasive, but offensive, and in some cases frightening.

Great way to avoid the question 😁 of course men will come on these threads. MN does not ask for sex when you sign up and men aren’t banned from these threads.

How am I not engaging with the thread?

I’ve literally taken up half of it 🤣

I will back off because I don’t want to take up any more space.

Please don’t carry on dismissing women’s views and opinions though.

They have just as much right to an opinion as you do.

I've emailed the charity to complain. I too am one of the women they should be targeting and this definitely puts me off.

I recently had an investigative breast ultrasound and it was carried out by a man, I didn't expect that and didn't want to make a fuss to ask for a woman sonographer.
It wasn't as 'hands-on' as a mammogram but nevertheless discomforting for me.

This was in a hospital, my previous investigations at the specialist breast clinic were all carried out by female staff.

This may help.

You're engaging with even less of the content of the thread than I thought.

I have already told you, you are only talking to women on this thread. The male posters on MN are not participating on this thread. I should have used big letters for all of that post, then.

North West Cancer Research isn't that small.

In 2021/22 its total gross income was £4.9 million.
https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charity-details/519357

The guilty relevant marketing communications agency is Influential, per release from NWCR
https://www.prolificnorth.co.uk/news/new-cervical-cancer-campaign-urges-north-west-women-dont-keep-em-crossed/#:~:text=Influential%20is%20helping%20North%20West,than%20the%20rest%20of%20England.

https://www.thisisinfluential.com/