The worst cervical cancer campaign ever...

[PizzazzRoxyStorma]

...well isn't this one special?

https://x.com/northwestcancer/status/1724378139059503400?s=46&t=FvzNePXGikWIJeOA86F8cg

See this is how I read it.

Everyone I know says ' keep em crossed' rather than keep your fingers crossed, it was the first thing I thought, I don't think it's stretching

A significant number of the WOMEN missing their appointments will be trauma-impacted. Sexual assault can make it incredibly difficult to have a medical appointment like this. Far more, I assume than transmen. So the whole 'nudge nudge ha ha uncross your legs ladies' nonsense might actually decrease participation.

And don't get me started on the Barbie high heels mannequin legs.

But if keep em crossed alluded to fingers/luck, they spoilt it by including the crossed legs, which has a completely different connotation (actually usually it means needing to go to the toilet, but in the context of smear tests it's crass and completely misses the point of the real reasons women are reluctant to have smears).

My first reaction was to think ‘oh an advert for screening STD’….

Its crap. Absolutely crap

I can't see replies but almost 170k views with only 31 likes is telling.

So desperate to virtue signal they don't even realise that using the word people makes their stats pointless.

In that case, you dint add a série of crossed legs to it though

Perhaps a high-viz campaign with footballers from Liverpool, Everton, Man U and Man City attending smears would help get those 'all people' stats moving in the right direction in the NW.

I am one of the women that a campaign like this is aimed at. I went to one smear test years ago and have never had another one.

I have strong reasons for not going. This campaign does nothing to dispel them, if anything it shows how completely out of touch they are with why some women don't go to their smear tests.

This

My engagement with this service rests entirely upon my ability to specify a female HCP and for her to be able to care for a patient with a trauma history. It's not because I don't know about it.

Women with additional needs and women with English as an additional language - especially those without a regular GP - are also at risk of not taking up the smear offer. A sexualised innuendo of a campaign is not going to reach or encourage either of those groups.

Nobody’s saying that. The poster was just pointing out that ‘people’ is fine in this case.

It's a horrible, horrible campaign. It emphasises the sexual nature of opening your legs, whereas what you want as a woman thinking about smears is to de-sexualise it - to think of it as a simple, necessary medical procedure.

It reminds me of that other awful campaign: "Don't be a diva, it's only a beaver."

Furthermore, they haven't put any effort into finding out why women don't have smears, which I suspect in many cases is because women find it painful or traumatising.

I can only imagine this ad will put women off having a smear, rather than making them think it's a good idea.

It is impossible to book a smear test at my drs. Can't book over the phone, can't book online, only on certain days but the info is not online so I don't know what days - I have to fill out a form (not designed for the purpose) on the nhs app and then I get an appointment (which is usually smack bang in the middle of something important for work so gets cancelled).

Yet I get a text a month to "remind" me to book. I bought a hpv test kit from Superdrug in the end.

I have had a similar experience in the past. They only release appointments a month ahead, which book up fast. They don't do smears everyday, they almost never have appointments outside core office hours. You have to work around your cycle on top of this. After several calls to try and arrange an appointment I gave up.

I have since had one but it was very overdue and involved travelling out of area to some clinic that I suspect was really aimed at disadvantaged women living locally but had better availability

The messages I get from this campaign are
a) that they think women are choosing not to have sex because they don’t want smear tests,
b) that their statistics are fucked
& c) that if I went for a smear test in the north west I would have no guarantee that it would be done by an actual woman.

I disagree... people are taking pictures of it and talking about cervical screening on a predominantly female based forum so seems to be getting the message across and hopefully some ladies will go for their smear test as a result of it

I agree with this.
It's got people talking, it's raising awareness by doing so, and it doesn't offend me, if it raises awareness that's a good thing in my eyes.

Yet they then discuss that certain communities are not doing the screening. It is the North West- which community would this be? And do you think those communities will respond to this absolute mess of a communication campaign?

This is a huge failure in communication.

Great.

which communities in the North West do you think is NOT attending their scans? Do you think you’re representative of those communities?

Had you noticed that other women aren't feeling all positive about it and some here are saying that it's actively putting them off?

Of course it's great that it works for you. But it's kind of an all women thing.

That’s quite grim.

@MissLucyEyelesbarrow you misread me- ads can and should target those groups. Mainstream ads should not be diluted with wishywashy inclusive unclear language.

and separately, the ‘keep ‘em crossed’ is definitely inferring women should sleep around, and should have smear tests. I object to the inference that women ‘should’ have sex in the same way they should have a health screen.

It’s coercive.

This.

It needs repeating often.

This is supposed to be targeting community groups with poor take up of smear tests. I expect all those who are decreeing that this is doing a great job of communicating are NOT the target market that is not already attending their smear tests. It is community groups that include those with language difficulties. Using language that doesn’t make clear that this is a female only health issue (in plain English) and using communication devices that are polarising in using sexual innuendo is spectacularly failing those communities.

Oh but it's okay <hollow laugh> They're being ever so inclusive by providing three shades of legs 😏

Three shades of plastic, barbie, one size, sexualised legs.

They'd have more of a chance if they actually ran training and awareness campaigns for health care professionals about consent-based practice and how to make a smear test a less uncomfortable and downright painful thing for a significant number of women.

But that wouldn't be sexy marketing 🤐

Would the people who think ‘oh it’s fine so long as it gets people talking’ be equally happy about prostate-related campaigns making reference to ‘getting it up’ or the fun of a finger up the bum on the same basis?

Or is it just women who need to be told to spread their legs?

You really think this will actually encourage anyone?

Frankly, what idiot came up with this campaign? They need to find a new career.

It is tasteless, grossly offensive and likely to have the opposite effect to that intended. Just horrible.