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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To loathe those cancer ads.

83 replies

CalamityKate · 07/05/2013 12:32

You know, the "hey cancer you prat. We're not scared of you" ones?

I can't see the point if them. They make me squirm and I'm not sure why.

OP posts:

KitKatShoes · 07/05/2013 13:59

I hate it.

"We're coming to get you" sounds like you are trying to get cancer. I KNOW that is not what it is but it just sounds daft.

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 07/05/2013 14:01

I don't like them either. I always think that the granny is going to say 'Cancer you PRICK' and clench up. Also, I don't like the idea that cancer can be 'fought' as long as you're strong enough etc. Cancer doesn't give a fuck who it affects, or how much they 'fight'. Brave people die regardless.

NinaHeart · 07/05/2013 14:01

Agree. I don't kike them either. Anger will not get rid of cancer - I'd far rather they told me what previous donations had funded and what useful stuff they had found out, and where they are going with it.
Cancer is not a "prat" it is a series of evolving diseases that need bloody clever researchers to defeat it, not people shouting at it.

Forwardscatter · 07/05/2013 14:02

sick - it's a cancer charity so my money's on the fact that quite a large proportion of their staff and supporter base have experienced cancer up close.

sickaboutit · 07/05/2013 14:03

forward and so they must find it empowering/good/on the money...surely

Forwardscatter · 07/05/2013 14:12

sick don't think they would have run with it without thorough internal and external consumer testing.

Scaredycat3000 · 07/05/2013 14:31

I hate that advert to. As I see it it's saying my Grandad, Grandma, other Grandad, Aunt, DH's Aunts and Godmother didn't/haven't fought hard/wanted to live enough. Thanks for that, nice of some random charity to tell me about my family.

ryanboy · 07/05/2013 14:47

YABU The very fact that you have been moved to start a thread about it means they have done their job by grabbing your attention.

KatoPotato · 07/05/2013 14:49

Not really, the OP didn't mention the actual organisation, and many other posters have said that's actively put them off donating.

ryanboy · 07/05/2013 14:51

I think some of you are getting the wrong end of the stick- it is not about individuals fighting cancer, it is about individuals raising money to fund research to fight cancer

fromparistoberlin · 07/05/2013 14:51

me neither

I basically hate most cancer ad campaigns, I wonder why????

OH, the phrase "battle" makes me heave. a woman at work has been diagnosed with advanced stomache cancer. She will likely die. She cant fucking "battle it" its too advanced

Fedupofdiets · 07/05/2013 14:52

I think the problem is that the ads make it sound like you can beat cancer. Like you have a choice. 'I beat cancer' no you didn't you were fortunate not to die but it wasn't a choice you made otherwise nobody would die of the bastard disease. Otoh they need to raise money and if it raises the profile and gets people taking then surely it's done it's job?

persimmon · 07/05/2013 14:54

I don't dislike them. I see it more as a community: "WE'RE going to get you " etc through research so that no-one else dies needlessly. I don't see it as anyone implying that individuals just need to fight hard enough to beat cancer.

MarshaBrady · 07/05/2013 14:55

I can't stand the vs bit.

It's better if you see an ad remember it and it makes you want to donate, not loathe it.

notJenkins · 07/05/2013 14:56

I have recently had treatment for cancer and I really hate these adverts.

The whole fighting thing is insulting as it implies you have some sort of control over it and only us cowards who don't fight enough get cancer.

TigerSwallowTail · 07/05/2013 14:58

My grampa just died from cancer in February, I turn those adverts off when they come on as they upset me too much, they're awful.

DoctorAnge · 07/05/2013 14:58

It's really awful. I can't put my finger on it but it's unintelligent- cancer is not a prat it's a disease

Quangle · 07/05/2013 14:59

I'm obviously in the minority but I really like those ads. I don't think it says "if you fight hard enough you can beat this". It says "what a vicious thing this is - let's join together to try to beat it (through fund-raising and research)" I think they are trying to harness the anger and create action. I find them v moving actually.

TaurielTest · 07/05/2013 15:02

The whole battle/fight metaphor is really problematic. CRUK may intend it to refer to their collective research efforts, but it's easy to read as referring to individuals who might 'win' or 'lose'. Which - along with the crass language - really makes it miss the mark as a campaign IMO.

It also makes me think of this - worth a read:[http://www.barbaraehrenreich.com/cancerland.htm]].

SusanneLinder · 07/05/2013 15:04

I can cope quite happily with those adverts.Its the cheesy cancer facebook statuses that have me reaching for the puke bucket (and I am saying that as someone who has close family members who have died or recovered from cancer)

Laquila · 07/05/2013 15:16

Totally agree with comments upthread ref the personification of cancer, and the idea being put about that if you "lose your battle" with cancer, it was sort of your fault for not trying hard enough or being aggressive enough, which is quite clearly not the case. (Not that I'm denying the potential health benefits of a positive attitude, but it's so much more complex than that.)

I have to say I'm a little relieved to see this thread - I felt terrible for feeling uncomfortable at those adverts.

AttilaTheMeerkat · 07/05/2013 15:24

I've just watched this ad via Youtube and it did make me feel very uncomfortable as well.

Cancer is not a prat; its insidious and does not care who you are or what you do or have done. Quite apart from anything else there are types of cancer which receive far more attention via media outlets than others (that also gets my goat too).

I've lost three of my relatives to various forms of cancer and in each case they wanted to live. My uncle went so far as to get on an Easyjet flight to Zurich to pay for a new drug treatment that was not licenced here.

PregnantPain · 07/05/2013 15:24

It's the version of the ad where the blonde woman says "Cancer is still not getting the message"

That'd be because it's not a person....it doesn't have a working understanding of speech, it is a disease.

You don't hear people going round saying "this flu just won't listen when I tell it to go away"

PregnantPain · 07/05/2013 15:25

I know flu is hardly the same league as cancer but you get my point I'm sure.

LouiseSmith · 07/05/2013 15:28

I disagree.

After spending the last 4 months of my granddads life watching a perfectly strong, capable man. Who had never asked for help with anything, slowly begin to wet himself, lose the ability to walk, had to have his granddaughter come rushing up to his house at 8.30am to pick him up of the floor where he legs had gone numb, had to have people organise there lives around him like he was a small child because someone had to be with him 24/7. I say if cancer were a person, I would be doing time.

I give money to cancer research, and Macmillan nurses wherever I can, the advert is designed to promote togetherness and a fighting spirit. A lot of people feel like that, so where is the harm in fight talk. Its no different to two men treating each other over a football match, except this is something that will touch everyones lives one way or another in some way.

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