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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:

Scuttlebutter · 07/05/2013 15:29

I'm another one who hates these adverts. I also hated their series of ads a while back featuring cancer survivors saying "I shouldn't be here". Depending on how I was feeling, that either upset me or made me angry ( am a cancer survivor). As I also hate RFL (though I respect those who wish to run it) I generally don't donate to CRUK. I do however donate to a number of other cancer charities. In the past two years, I've lost a close friend, my dad, my uncle and currently my cousin is terminally ill and another friend has just been diagnosed. Flicking V signs or shouting just seems incomprehensible to me.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii · 07/05/2013 15:30

They are awful. It's a very badly judged campaign.

Winetime1981 · 07/05/2013 15:30

Attitude does help - hope helps. It's proven. Maybe that's the point to give people hope? I read a really interesting book called The Anatomy of Hope by a top oncologist all about this.

Hope alone however can't cure cancer - and I totally agree I'd be so, so angry if I had a loved one who died of cancer who was described as 'losing their battle with cancer' as it often is described in the media. A sociologist called Susan Sontag has written a lot on this and asks whether metaphors and illness are on any way helpful.

It's a fine balance.

AttilaTheMeerkat · 07/05/2013 15:31

BTW did anyone see Maurice Saatchi speaking about his late wife who died from ovarian cancer on the BBC the other morning?. Poor soul sounded completely broken.

AttilaTheMeerkat · 07/05/2013 15:33

My H does RFL; I am ambivalent about that as well. I am still thinking about that.

Wishiwasanheiress · 07/05/2013 15:35

I turn over at all those cancer ads. And also the children ones. Can't stick any of them.

SusanneLinder · 07/05/2013 15:37

This is a cancer "survivors" words on this whole battle thing. He says that in his opinion, the battle against cancer is a universal one. It's not just about the person who is ill, but also about the family and loved ones that are watching someone who is a friend/lover/mother/whatever going through their deepest darkest moments. It is a battle for EVERYONE to try and make sure that we lose as few people as possible to this disease. No one who died "failed", they just haven't managed to find something that works to fight that particular strain yet.

30 years ago-he would have been a statistic, now his strain has a 95-97% cure rate.

I do not have anything to do with Cancer Research. And personally I do not give a flying rats arse who they offend with their adverts.If one person, just ONE survives this awful disease, because of it, then I am happy to dance down the effin street doing the bloody fandango.

SusanneLinder · 07/05/2013 15:38

I do not have anything to do with Cancer Research-as in I dont work for them-doh!

Forwardscatter · 07/05/2013 15:41

Definitely agree that people are missing the point to the ad. It's not about a personal battle against cancer, it's about people coming together to fight the fucker with research.

Forwardscatter · 07/05/2013 15:44

I do support them and have for years. They invited me to visit the labs last year, we were a group of 10 or do and we were all moved to tears by the scientists and the others who showed us around. Love em.

snuffaluffagus · 07/05/2013 15:46

I think these are good ad's. They're not talking about the individuals with cancer "fighting" it, they're referring to the research/science "fighting it" as others have said.

andubelievedthat · 07/05/2013 15:56

Wonderfull ads (imo) at last ,the charities/medical profession have come out from behind the "spoke of in hushed tones" screens and are shouting , >"yes ,it kills ,yes you have a really reasonable chance of cancer striking you or your family" no we have not cured it but if you stop looking away and chuck a few pounds this way , perhaps we can ! An in-everyones -face- cancer ad, at last.

Binkybix · 07/05/2013 15:58

I honestly don't think I've seen them, but surely if the majority of people seem to be missing he point of the ads, then they're bad ads.

Fenton · 07/05/2013 16:00

They actually want to say Fuck You Cancer, but can't of course.

I totally get them.

Forwardscatter · 07/05/2013 16:04

Um, I don't think a few people on MN = the majority

Spero · 07/05/2013 16:04

The whole 'battle' analogy makes me rage.

Because if I do die in the next five years of breast cancer the message to my daughter will be that mummy just didn't fight hard enough.

It is not a 'battle'. It is cells in my body going wrong. My attitude has fuck all to do with my cells. I will get better or I will die but I am not in a 'fight'. I hate these adverts.

Binkybix · 07/05/2013 16:08

Was going to go into detail and say obvs this is a small sample, maybe not representative etc etc but thought people would get the short hand I was using. To be correct then, the majority of people who have replied to this thread seem to dislike them and some have said they'd be put off donating. Who knows how this plays out with general population?

I think arguing that ads are good but people don't get them really misses the point of the ad.

Binkybix · 07/05/2013 16:08

an ad

Spero · 07/05/2013 16:10

The point about the 'fight' being one for the researchers was totally lost on me - maybe because for years we have endured these bloody ridiculous battle metaphors. Why is only cancer singled out as a disease with a personality? It is just superstitious and stupid.

Forwardscatter · 07/05/2013 16:14

You're never going to have an ad that hits bullseye with everyone unfortunately. Didn't John Lewis, a shining example of all that is good in the world once invoke public outrage with an ad about a dog or something?
And perhaps the responses would have been different if the OP had been 'AIBU to lurve the new Cancer Research ad?'.
Dunno.

Highlander · 07/05/2013 16:16

Cells that acquire the capacity for infinite growth, invasion and avoidance of your immune system gives cancer the honour of one of the most intelligent biological systems.

You can't 'battle' it. Slowly, slowly we will come to understand the complexities of cancer and maybe, just maybe, develop a range of therapies to keep it under control.

This tupe of 'inch by inch' research is super expensive and highly complex. Your average person on the street doesn't get this, so the language of the adverts has to be 'on trend', and give hope. That's also why 10 year survival figures are rarely quoted......

CRUK is a very male-dominated organisation, with a male ethos; hence the 'fuck you, cancer' approach.

HairyPotter · 07/05/2013 16:16

I DO get the point of the advert, as I said before though, it makes ME feel as if its a battle to be won or lost if you fight hard enough.

As someone said up thread ^ Cancer is not a prat, it's a disease. It's that wording and all the aggression that makes me feel uncomfortable.

I support cancer charities and will continue to do so, but I hate these ads.

Forwardscatter · 07/05/2013 16:19

Just watched it again and I couldn't find any losing battle/winning battle messaging in it anywhere. To me, its about a team effort towards a common goal. Are we talking about the Kasabian Race for Life ad?

NinaHeart · 07/05/2013 16:25

One of the things I dislike about this advert and also the heart one "I hate my job" is that they are very negative. They start with negative statements and donl;t get any more hopeful Yes, we don't have a cure for cancer yet - but we do have better treatments and better genetic understanding and a better understanding of the disease mechanisms and better survival rates.

So please could we look at some of the positives?

An advert that told me some of the great advances in the past few years, funded by voluntary donations, and where CRUK are going next with their research would make me want to give more than this gloomy humanisation of the disease ever does.

sudaname · 07/05/2013 16:27

I hate these kind of ads too. That 'up yours cancer' is just so cringeworthy. It's just wrong and smacks of trying too hard somehow.

The old one with the girl in the wedding dress who says 'my mum should be here' now that is tastefully done although very very sad which is right because cancer causes so much sadness. But it is not an evil being that we should tell to piss off.

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