In December 2008, aged 39, Rachael Lonergan was diagnosed with aggressive triple negative breast cancer.
The Sydney freelance media strategist spent 2009 in treatment with two operations, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and more.
Lonergan considers herself recovered. ”They never say never, but so far, so good,” she says.
But what continues to make her sick is the way women’s breasts are sexualised and objectified by companies who pinkwash their motives by supporting breast cancer charities, especially during October – Breast Awareness Month.
”My ‘donation’ to research in the form of malignant flesh should not be devalued, by my cancer being reduced to a Benny Hill punchline,” she tweeted recently.
Bonds has set up Boobs billboards in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Its website promised to ”reveal everything”, which, unsurprisingly, was its new bra range. Bonds also has a partnership with the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF).
One in eight Australian women will develop breast cancer. On average, seven women die from breast cancer every day. This year it’s predicted 14,940 women will get the disease, but juvenile boob-centric campaigns trivialise it. Should we be about ”saving boobies” or saving lives?
”I honestly thought this year the ‘pink industry’ had moved beyond the ‘awareness via titillation’ strategies and was so mad to see the Bonds work,” Lonergan says.
”I attended an NBCF forum in August where the chief operating officer assured me that they take all marketing partnerships seriously and would never do anything to denigrate survivors. I told her of a number of off-colour examples they’ve supported in the past and she claimed they had a new attitude to these things. Apparently not.”
Breast cancer survivors take these pinkified sexed-up campaigns personally. They survived, but for many their breasts didn’t.
The sexification of breast cancer ”awareness” means you mainly see women with perky breasts intact, and you’d hardly know the average age for contracting the disease is 60.
”Every woman I know who has been through the same thing has issues with how their breasts look and feel after surgery,” says Lonergan.
”You get cut apart and chunks removed, burnt with radiotherapy, nerve damage and then all the time confronted by breast-cancer-charity-approved campaigns saying, ‘Your worth as a woman is in having perfect, undamaged breasts,’ is just so depressing. It affects … self-confidence, relationships. I just don’t accept that there is a greater good being served by these kinds of campaigns.
”No one makes sexual jokes about men who require prostatectomies to save their lives, do they?”
Sexualising breast cancer campaigns is nothing new. Slogans have included ”Help The Hooters”, ”Save The Jugs”, ”Man Up, Save Second Base”, ”Save The Tattas”, ”Save The Headlights” and ”We’ll Go a Long Way for a Good Rack”.
The Grosvenor on George topless bar in Brisbane boasts of selling ”the world’s first boob-shaped pizzas”. Proceeds go to breast cancer charity the McGrath Foundation.
The Nena and Pasadena clothing company (N&P), co-founded by new Sydney Swans star Buddy Franklin, promotes the Tour de Crawf bike ride supporting Breast Cancer Network Australia. He has appeared on N&P’s social-media sites with the network’s branding. But N&P gear pictures women headless or faceless, handcuffed and positioned in degrading poses such as on all fours or curled up on the ground.
TITS (Two In The Shirt) is a porn T-shirt brand sold at City Beach. Their range includes images of women in lingerie ”checking” each other’s breasts. A ”Check 1 Check 2” T-shirt shows a topless woman checking her breasts. Semi-dressed women shown breast to breast are shown adorned with the pink ribbon.
Nominated for best apparel at Adult Video News awards, proceeds from the ”Tits for Tits” range also go to breast cancer groups.
I’m not saying breast cancer awareness campaigns haven’t been effective – and certainly they receive more funding than cancers that don’t attack breasts. Responding to critics of the Bonds campaign, NBCF chief executive Carol Renouf says, with the money pledged by the company, the ends justifies the means.
But boobs-for-a-cause campaigns demean women by appealing to the potential loss of a sexual object, rather than the potential loss of her life.
As published on the Sun-Herald Oct 20 2013
4 Responses
Men and their corporate companies have for nearly a decade now been sexually exploiting women in order to garner profits. Business and profit is mens’ corporate business mandate which is why women continue to be sexually exploited. Men continue to consider themselves the only human species on our planet, which is why sexually exploiting mens’ penises in order to publicise prostate cancer is perceived by men as ‘sexually degrading to man!’
But why should not charities and businesses sponsoring prostate cancer awareness not sexually exploit mens’ sexual organs – after all men aren’t men if their penises don’t work and prostate cancer does nullify what men claim is their ‘manhood!’
Perhaps men should create a campaign for prostate cancer awareness with straplines such as ‘save the dicks!’ Or ‘dicks are essential – save our dicks!’ But men would become hysterical at such deliberate dehumanisation of ‘man’ because he is definitive human.
What we women must do is speak out and denounce those misogynistic business and profit driven male owned corporate bodies. Women must also refuse to support those psuedo charities which promote men’s lies that women aren’t human but merely mens’ ‘breast sexual service stations!’
Hi Melinda,
I am the media manager at Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA). I read with interest your article on the sexualisation of breast cancer awareness campaigns which was published in the SMH over the weekend.
It was a great article and highlighted an important issue. We are often approached by individuals or community groups using the terms boobs, jugs or tits etc. while raising funds for us. While we aren’t comfortable with these terms being used in association with breast cancer, we struggle to balance their enthusiasm and good intentions with our own reservations.
You also mentioned that Nena and Pasadena (N&P) – Buddy Franklin’s clothing company – supported BCNA via Tour de Crawf earlier this year. N&P announced their support for BCNA via social media, completely taking us by surprise as we had no prior knowledge of their involvement nor had given approval of their association with BCNA. After looking into N&P, including their depiction of women, we declined their offer of financial support. I can confirm BCNA never accepted donations from N&P.
Thanks again for addressing this issue.
Kind regards,
Laura
Dear Melinda, I’ve just read your article. I thought you’d be interested in this letter I wrote today to CEO at PacBrands, and copied to your editor.
To whom it may concern – but preferably John C. Pollaers,
I am writing – as I imagine many have – to complain vigorously about your current BONDS/BOOBS campaign.
It is difficult for me as a consumer, mother of a 10 year old boy and leader in business driving creative and ad spend in my own sector, to understand how it is possible a campaign so demeaning of women could “get up” in the current environment.
Could it be that your team has no exposure to the Melbourne City Council campaign against violence against women, about the male advocacy and the communication to the community relating to this issue? About the responsibility that we all have as individuals and leaders?
Our own police chief himself recently wrote an article – and I quote –
“I want you to help make indecency against women deeply shameful. I want you to understand that this is not solely a feminist issue.
It’s a social issue, a moral issue and a men’s issue.
I want you to have hard conversations with your friends, your sons, your teammates, your colleagues. And I’m not just talking about standing up to the men who bash and rape women. I’m also talking about those who slander strangers on the street and the cowards who touch women on crowded trams.
I want parents explaining to their sons that you treat women compassionately and thoughtfully. I want coaches to explain to their players that women are not trophies.
And I want prominent men speaking loudly about this more often.
They’re my challenges. Now let me explain to you the urgency.”
This is simply an excerpt – the whole article can be accessed here: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/have-a-look-at-yourself/story-fni0fee2-1226682799029
It has a very apt tag – “have a look at yourself”.
I posted your billboard on punt road on my Facebook feed and one of my friends responded – “no wonder Bonds is struggling as a brand”.
How many female employees do you have? According to data 1 in 4 are subjected to violence, most of them by an intimate known person.
What is your response to this?
Your campaign is outrageous – and not in a good “great all publicity is good publicity” way but in a poor – “it adds to this culture of violence” way so well-articulated by Ken Lay.
Perhaps another interesting link for you is http://www.whiteribbon.com.au
Thanks for reading, Susan
Susan Castle |Director – Marketing, Strategy & Development
The Bean Alliance
Please provide details as to what you want us to do about these revolting ads. As a busy mother I just need quick link instructions as to what you want us to do protest these campaigns.
We need to have a product/brands list we can refer to, that shows us who to avoid. We also need re-regulation of the advertising standards board. Self regulation is failing our young daughters and sons. With a new federal government, it is time for change on this.