DDB promotes breast cancer awareness in Singapore

The campaign 'Are you obsessed with the right things?' touches on the insight that women often focus too much attention on more trivial things that are not necessarily a matter of life and death - pimples, bad hair days, a rounder bottom, rather do a regular breast check, a common site for cancer cells to develop. 

With this issue in mind, the communication idea involved the art of body painting, where life’s little things are beautifully illustrated on a female model’s upper torso using Kryolan grease paint. This gives the graphical illusion of how such things in life take precedence over breast cancer awareness. 

According to the National Health Surveillance Survey 2007 conducted by the Ministry of Health, Singapore, 80 per cent of women aged 50 to 59 years in Singapore are aware of breast cancer screening, but only 41 per cent actually went for examiniation in the last two years. "Our aim is to increase that number by encouraging women and providing them the confidence to take control of their lives through determination, belief and support,” says Christine Ang, general manager of the Breast Cancer Foundation, Singapore. 

Joji Jacob, executive creative director of DDB Singapore said, “Breast cancer is a matter of life and death. But the important thing to remember is that the chance of survival is higher if detected early. All it takes is a little less time on trivial preoccupations, and more focus on things that matter."

He added, "To communicate this, we wanted to move away from the usual clichés that have come to define breast cancer screening communication. We had strong insight and wanted to communicate it in a memorable way.” 

Apart from raising awareness and encouraging women to conduct regular breast checks, the campaign is also intended to garner support from the public via the purchase of the Pink Ribbon – the international symbol of awareness and hope for women living with breast cancer. The Ribbon will be made available at over 400 locations island-wide in tandem collaboration with promoting breast cancer awareness. 

In addition to the poster campaign, the Breast Cancer Foundation has also lined up several initiatives slated to be rolled out within the next few months to promote breast cancer awareness, starting with the Pink Ribbon Walk and Run on October 2, 2010. The event hopes to involve at least 5,000 participants in an effort to drive home the importance of staying healthy and active to reduce the risk of developing breast cancer. 

 

 

 

Credits:
Project Are you obsessed with the right things?
Client Breast Cancer Foundation Singapore
Advertising agency DDB Singapore
Executive creative director Joji Jacob
Creative director Thomas Yang
Copywriters Joji Jacob, Khairul Mondzi
Art directors Thomas Yang, Andrea Kuo
Illustrator Andy Yang Soo Kit
Digital retoucher Agnes Teo
Photographer Allan Ng / Republic Studios
Exposure Print