To be disgusted at cancer research adverts?

[Gracey1231]

Okay so my amazing father passed away January 2015, he had NHL in the lung stage 2, and after being told his chemo had really shrunk the tumour, it wrapped itself around his pulmonary artery and he had a pulmonary haemorrhage in outpatients on the way for his 2nd chemo

The adverts are really getting to me, where it shows the patients. All I can think of is poor families who have lost someone that day or been diagnosed coming home turning on the TV and seeing it. I know they need to raise awareness, but I feel like this is emotional blackmail and unfair to people.

I know it sounds vile, but AIBU?

I think must be a better way, than this onslaught of ads recently & the 'battle & laughing at cancer' I find very distasteful & upsetting, I lost both my parents to cancer & numerous family members, some who suffered in a way no one should ever had too, yy to Macmillan majority a total waste of space.
To all pp who are dealing with illness & loss ((((unmumsnetty hugs))))

@everyone

Huge hugs to all of you
I just hope that one day it isn't taboo to be upset by cancer adverts regardless

The one that annoys me the most (they all annoy me to some extent) is MacMillan and their 'no one should have to face cancer alone' and their emphasis on helping support families too.
When a close relative was diagnosed, I was suffering with my mental health (triggered by her diagnosis) and MacMillan told me they couldn't help me because I'm autistic.
So their slogan should be 'no neurotypical person should have to face anger alone' then.

Macmillan were shit in any support for my mom as she was caring for my step dad who was dying from a brain tumour!

Totally understand OP.

DH and I hate NSPCC adverts showing child abuse as we are both abuse survivors. I'll never forget receiving a letter - no idea why I was on the mail list TBH - talking about paedophilia etc and it was so personal, you know the kind of thing where it tells you it's your responsibility etc. Horrible to receive. But when I told my (otherwise lovely) friends they couldn't see why I was so upset.

MacMillan told me they couldn't help me because I'm autistic.

Seriously?! WTF. That's awful.

I hate the shock Charity adverts of all the major charities even though I have not been personally affected by any of the issues raised. I particularly hate the NSPCC adds around Christmas time and anything about battling a disease. They don't make me give.

It is a shame that it is these adverts that work because I also think it is much harder for illnesses which are more difficult to understand and shock may be less effective for fund raising. For example the biggest killer of women in the U.K. in 2013 was dementia but the level of research and resources (charitable and governmental) doesn't reflect that.

visual.ons.gov.uk/what-are-the-top-causes-of-death-by-age-and-gender/

SingaSong12 I agree about dementia massively! My grandad has it and no organisation have given my 76 year old grandma who's grieving her son any support or help during this time, they just expect her to care for him and get on with it or shove him in a home

The " fighting cancer " thing gets me everytime. The implication being that if only you fight harder you wouldn't die - simples - except it's not. Cancer is a bastard. It kills you. You probably don't have an awful lot of control over the outcome.

YANBU

These shock tactic adverts are disgusting. I refuse to give money to any charity that thinks it's ok to make people extremely upset in order to raise more money. It's callous and hard hearted.

I recently complained to a hospice charity that had sent an unsolicited letter to me from one of their patients who was dying. The letter started out 'I am XXX and I'm going to die soon' (or something similar) and there was a photo of the person. I asked the charity if any of them had ever considered how someone who had recently lost someone or someone who had a terminal illness would feel if they received that letter.

I got a thoughtful but non-committal reply. They said that it was not their intention to upset anyone which I don't think can be true. Surely the charities that use these types of campaigns are setting out to upset people it's just that they think that it is an ok 'cost' to raising funds.
I have a very elderly MIL and the thought of her receiving a letter like the one I got makes me feel sick. It seems even more personal when it's an addressed letter than an advert.

I can't stand those adverts, they've made me cry when they've come on so will switch over.

I wish there was better adverts that say the main symptoms of cancers, i.e. You have a cough for more than 2 weeks, blood in your urine etc to go & checked then a message at the end of the advert to say support cancer research donate here. Informative & raising profile, I'd be more inclined to donate if it was a positive message. E.g. Thanks to our research the survival rate is higher

The race for life ones annoy me the most, I hate that they're women only, really bugs me, men suffer from & as a result of cancer.

I used to raise thousands of pounds for CR , after DH was diagnosed and after my mum and a couple of friends passed away from cancer. Now I wont fundraise for them at all, and I don't give them a penny. We used to do a 24 hour relay, in our own time and at our own cost. It never appeared to be good enough. Always wanted more ( this was from a PAID organisor). Plus the emotional bloody blackmail.

CR use a lot of children in adverts but a very tiny % goes to children's cancers.

'CR use a lot of children in adverts but a very tiny % goes to children's cancers.'

This. Because, as pointed out, childhood cancer is rare. Then why so many kids and young people in their ads. 'We were planning her funeral in our minds,' and sobbing and then, 'So glad she's alright now.'

The reality is that childhood cancer is on the rise. It's now the biggest killer behind accident.

Children who don't grow up to be a mum, a wife, a nana, an auntie.

A quarter of all children treated for cancer in childhood will go on to develop a secondary cancer.

And that's not even touching on the effects of the treatment or those who relapse.

Did you realise that the NHS in England is no longer funding second allogenic stem cell transplants? And they don't just happen for cancer, we know one girl who had two for Hurler's Syndrome. She's alive today.

The treatments can leave children profoundly disabled, with grave limb amputations where prosthetics aren't possible, with, at the least, lifelong infertility.

But hey, it's 'rare'. Only when it doesn't happen to your child.

My daughter died of a cancer that strikes mostly older people just 7 months and 29 days after her diagnosis. In that little time we were in hospital, I now have to count on two hands and then use more to tally up the number of children we know personally who have died from relapse and/or secondary cancer alone.

4%.

It was AML for those who don't already know. Acute myeloid leukaemia. A cancer that strikes mostly those over 55, but still accounts for 20% of children diagnosed with leukaemia. Best case scenario is an 80+% rate of 5-year OS, for ALL, the most common form of leukaemia in children. AML, 50% at best. My child had a mutation, FLT3, that is the most common in adults with AML, but known to be highly lethal in children. They are all treated with decades old drugs. Many people, adults alike, die from the treatment. Many even decline it, the odds are so poor.

The last known study into children with my daughter's mutation had 52 children. It was ended after 2 years because 47 of them were dead.

And this is not even touching on those who are diagnosed with brain cancer.

I had that carved on her headstone. 'Taken by Acute Myeloid Leukaemia', because I want people to know, dammit!

And I want people to know it's 4%, despite all the ads featuring children and young people.

RIP, Aillidh, Aila, Naomi M, Naomi S, Charlie, Margot, Abbi, JackJack . . . I could be here all night.

I've had mental health problems after losing a parent. I always cried after seeing a certain cancer advert, but i still think we need them.
Cancer is so prevalent, we are so used to it ( as in most of know someone who has/had it).
We need to keep showing people the reality of it.
These adverts do work.
As a poster sAid said, these types of hard hitting ads do get people to donate more.
Yes i get sad, but i'd rather there was more research, hopefully one day a cure, or to give people more time so they don't have to feel my pain.

As always expat and others

I realise this is an old thread, but the subject of distressing cancer adverts is unfortunately still on-going. For those interested in ending fear-driven advertising there is a new petition at Change.org: 'No More Cancer Adverts'

Here is the link: www.change.org/p/philip-dunne-minister-of-state-for-health-please-no-more-cancer-commercials?recruiter=551480624&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition

Gracey1231, I have just posted a link on this thread to a petition you may be interested in signing and sharing: 'No More Cancer Adverts' at Change.org. Hope this reaches you. Thank you, for raising the topic.

www.change.org/p/philip-dunne-minister-of-state-for-health-please-no-more-cancer-commercials?recruiter=551480624&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition

YANBU. I had a cancer scare a few years ago and it really upset me seeing the adverts at a time when I'd just been told I may have a cancer that would most likely kill me. I was in my early 20s at the time, my MH was teetering on the edge and every time I saw an advert (e.g. on a bus shelter - Macmillan had a big campaign on at the time) I had a wobble.