Hard Hitting Message To Inspire NZ To Act

Hard Hitting Message To Inspire New Zealanders To Act

The New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation (NZBCF) launches thought provoking new advertising to raise awareness of breast cancer tomorrow. Two powerful images will appear in national magazines between late July and the end of September which challenge New Zealanders to consider the impact of breast cancer on themselves and others.

The two advertisements which depict a woman with a mastectomy scar cradling a baby and a bereaved older gentleman are the work of award winning photographer Derek Henderson and advertising agency Colenso BBDO. Both Henderson and Colenso provided their creative and strategic services free of charge to The Foundation.

“2500 New Zealand women are diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 600 women die from this disease every year. We share the aim of The Foundation to try and improve these statistics and we wanted to deliver work that would inspire New Zealanders to care enough about breast cancer to act” Colenso Managing Director Brent Smart says.

Breast cancer was the leading cause of death from cancer among females in 20051 (647 deaths or 17.1 percent of female cancer deaths), and is the most commonly registered cancer among females aged 25-44 and 45 – 64 years of age2 according to the latest statistics available from the Ministry of Health.

The model for the mastectomy image is a 42 year old Auckland woman, ‘Anne’ with a strong family history of breast cancer who modeled for the shoot so that other women would hear the message about breast cancer risk and the importance of early detection. The image has been altered to change her face and protect her anonymity but ‘Anne’ says that participating was “a no-brainer since the breast cancer early detection message is not getting through to enough women”.

The second advertisement depicts a lonely older man who is struggling to resume normal daily life after the death of his wife. Executive Trustee of the NZBCF, Heather Shotter says that New Zealanders are waking up to what it means to have breast cancer.

“Over the past twelve months I have been humbled and saddened by the number of calls and letters I get from husbands and children of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer wanting to know what they could have done to prevent their mother or wife from getting the disease.

The sad truth is that we don’t know definitively what causes breast cancer but we do know how to detect it and how to treat it. Screening mammograms and early detection is a woman’s best protection a against breast cancer” The Foundation will refresh their advertising for International Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October and has identified two key projects that will benefit from the funds raised in October. This information will be released in September prior to the launch of the October campaign.

New Zealanders wanting to know more about age –appropriate screening mammograms and the breast cancer education and rehabilitation programmes that are funded by The NZBCF should go to www.nzbcf.org.nz or call 0800 902 732 for more information.

ENDS

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