Breast Cancer Society of Canada
‘Cam’s Breast Exam’

We were asked to come up with a way to convince young women to perform their own regular breast examination, as all breast cancer advertising at the time spoke to women over 50. We wanted to avoid scare tactics, choosing instead to use humour to reinforce self-testing as a ‘normal’ task that everyone does. 

It is a fact that 73% of breast cancers are first noticed by a woman’s partner. However we wanted to encourage youg girls to take control and not rely on a guy to do it, hence the idea.

The 1-866 toll-free number actually existed, was featured in the advertisement and was answered by a message from Cam who offered free shower cards with self-testing instructions to callers.

The next day after it ran it got National press and brilliant coverage for an organisation that was trying to do the right thing on very little money.

It even inspired the client to start a new kind of charity about breast cancer, the highly successful Rethink. It is geared towards young women and talks about breast cancer in a fresh modern way to this day.
 

IMPACT
National media coverage

Gold New York Art Directors Show
Funniest spot of the year by Adcritic.com.
Distinction at the International Andy Awards
Shortlist at Cannes