10. {ReThink Your Pitch} Q&A With A National Brand Over Breast Cancer…

Kate-Madonna Hindes is an industry leader and national author and speaker on emotional integrity and authenticity in today’s online media. Her columns are regularly published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Women of HR, GirlmeetsGeek, Brazen Careerist and JobDig. With 15+ years of combined, published, experience for news media, state government and Fortune 500 businesses, she regularly covers national Social Media Technology events from an HR / Recruiting perspective. “{ReThink Your Pitch}” was originally published on GirlmeetsGeek on September 24, 2011. With permission, Pink Ribbon Blues is honored to publish a shortened version of the essay here.

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I received a very strange email a few days ago. Press Invites/Releases make up about 30% of my email inbox. Often, I’ll do a skim and delete, or I’ll contact the sender for more information. The pitches are usually meaningful and as a journalist, I appreciate the time a decent release takes. However, the heading on this one truly truly was hard to miss: “Hot Men Want You to Touch Your Boobs this October.” You can read the entire press release here: http://www.girlmeetsgeek.com/reverb-media-press-release/

The first thing I did was the check the sender, (Reverb Media) and make sure that someone hadn’t accidentally hacked their account. About 3 seconds later it dawned on me: Someone is actually using this headline for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I found out it was a phone app that reminded you to be screened for breast cancer, with ‘hot men.’ That’s it. Three things immediately went through my head:

1. Someone’s going to get fired.
2. Can you imagine a mastectomy survivor reading this and knowing that yet again, someone else is trying to push breast cancer only involving the …breast? Can you imagine her outrage wishing that she still HAD her breasts?
3. They must be joking. It must be a catchy headline, (worked for me!) I’ll open it, a heartfelt apology will follow and they will be donating a huge amount to a well-known organization.

I decided to dig deeper. The release was crafted by two entities: John St. and Reverb Media. I’ve heard of John St. and have a lot of respect for their craft, unfortunately that’s no longer the case. I’ve also heard of Reverb, most recently because of their 2010 lawsuit claiming that they were paid to falsify reviews in the Itunes Store. Then there’s the product. One click on the RethinkBreastCancer.com website tells you exactly what they’e after. In fact, in the press release itself, under “Save The Boobs!” the link pulls up a Youtube video that requires you to “sign in to verify that you are of the appropriate age” to view it. After I sat with my mouth gaping open, I decided to screenshot this gigantic mess in its disgusting, man-centered glory. If you’d like a play by play on the video and its falsified statistics, visit here.

Save the Boobs! Video by RethinkBreastCancer.Com

I asked for a few questions to be answered about the mobile application the press release was pitching. The following is the completely unedited Q&A:

Questions to MJ DeCoteau, Executive Director of Rethink Breast Cancer:

1. Why did you choose a phone app instead of ipad?
2. Since this is launching to women, (young and old,) do you have any concerns over the ‘sexualizing’ of the disease that has been written up recently in Forbes, the NYT and the Washington Journal?
3. Although early detection is important, there are many other factors that can save lives such as environmental, genetic, etc.
4. How does this engage with the survivor population?

Answers:

1. As ‘Your Man Reminder’ is the first Rethink Breast Cancer App we wanted to focus on iPhone and Android, as they are mobile devices that women carry with them at all times. iPad, and other tablet devices, are certainly a great way for us to reach women with our early detection message and its definitely on our minds for Phase 2!
2. The use of “hot guys” as a reminder for women to be breast aware is actually a clever twist on the typical sexualizing of the disease. This is not the usual “booby” campaign that is emphasizing women’s breasts as sexual objects. Both approaches, if done with humour and sensitivity, can bring attention to early detection and help save women’s lives.
3. Although early detection is important, there are many other factors that can save lives such as environmental, genetic, etc. The app is one of a host of Rethink Breast Cancer’s education tools and resources, including ones that focus on risk reduction through lifestyle changes. In our efforts to empower young women, Rethink encourages women to know their risk for developing breast cancer as well as strategies to reduce their risk and to be breast aware and know the importance of early detection. The app is a great example of one of our bold efforts to help young women take charge of their breast health.
4. How does this engage with the survivor population? Many breast cancer survivors (of all ages) have embraced our creative, and sometimes irreverent, education and early detection initiatives. Many of the young women in our breast cancer support programs are excited about this app and will help us spread the word about it through social media. They think it’s critical that young women know their risk for breast cancer and believe this app can break through the clutter of young women’s busy lives and help take some of the fear out of using early detection methods.

It was the answer to question #2 that stopped me dead in my tracks. This particular sexualization and (including men) is just a “clever twist.” So what does the app do? A few good-looking men remind you and your girlfriends to get screened, which has been done by how many other “clever” campaigns? To speak to younger women, Ms. DeCoteau, you don’t need hot men or a history of sexualizing the population of MTV video watchers. When you equate beautiful breasts to beautiful women and breast cancer to fear, you are in fact telling young women: “All that matters is that you look great in a bikini, get checked!”

Forget these sexy attempts at so-called ‘prevention’ through early detection. It’s time for a cure.

Further reading:

• Pink Ribbons = Company Profit: 2010s article on Breast Cancer Pinkwashing  http://www.girlmeetsgeek.com/2009/09/23/pink-ribbons-company-profit/
• Huffington Post: Save the Boobs” Is Breast Cancer Awareness Ad Too Sexy? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/24/save-the-boobs-is-this-br_n_298349.html
• ABC News: Breast Cancer PSAs Raise Eyebrows http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/save-boobs-breast-cancer-psas-raise-eyebrows/story?id=8646632
• New York Times: The Code Words of Breast Cancer Awareness  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/magazine/14FOB-wwln-t.html
• Pink Ribbon Blues: “Boobies, I Said It. Now May I Have Your Attention Please?  http://pinkribbonblues.org/2011/04/boobies-i-said-it-now-may-i-have-your-attention-please/
• Oxford University Press Blog: Boobies, for fun & Profit!  http://blog.oup.com/2011/04/boobies/

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For more consciousness raising essays, check out “30 Days of Breast Cancer Awareness.”

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