Incredible CBCF (candian bc foundation) commercial!!

CelineFlower

Is it just me?? has anyone else seen this?? 

Wow !! I AM LOVING!!! this perspective on healing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gXXRyIrplRk

Beesie

I've seen it and I don't like it. I think they've taken a very complicated issue and have simplified it to the point where it will be misinterpreted. 

When I watch the ad, the message I get is that you can avoid breast cancer if you "live well" (their words) or do just "one more thing".  Really?  Is it that easy?  Geez, I must have screwed up big time then, because I had breast cancer.  But wait, I was living healthily, eating well and exercising regularly.  So what did I do wrong?  Ah, maybe I was in the other 67% of women who get BC despite all the good things that they do. But they don't mention that, do they?

This ad is based on a couple of studies that came out in 2010 and 2011 that showed that the two largest controllable risk factors for post-menopausal breast cancer are hormone replacement therapy and obesity.  Lack of exercise and diet among those who are not obese are other controllable factors, but they influence BC rates to a much lesser degree. This ad isn't showing obese women starting to exercise or trying to eat less, and they aren't showing women throwing away their HRT pills. What we see are slim, very healthy looking women simply eating one more fruit or doing one more exercise, and the implication is that by doing this, they are reducing their BC risk by 1/3. That's not what the studies said at all. Although the studies didn't quantify it, I suspect that if already healthy women do "one more thing" right, they might get a very slight reduction in their BC risk, but nothing like the 1/3 reduction that this ad claims.  For women who really do have the extra risk because they are obese, they don't exercise and they take HRT, they have to do a whole lot more than "one more thing" to reduce their risk by 1/3.

What this ad is doing is taking a message that really should be targeted at a specific audience (those who have lifestyles that put them at higher risk) and they are targeting that message to women in general. It's misleading.  And it will lead a lot of women to wonder how it could be that they got breast cancer when they "did everything right" and even added that "one more thing".

I think the objective of getting women more healthy is a great one - there are lots of health benefits to that.  But they are very intentionally overselling the breast cancer reduction benefit here, and that's what I don't like.  

CelineFlower

well i see your point .... being obese... and knowing my choices played a part in why i am here... 

it was nice to see a commercial with typical women were weight wasnt really the issue...but ya.. could have been better to use more variety of women...

but the message i got... was to not be affraid to make changes.. live well... 

if i can make it thru chemo (2 more left!) i can do anything...

it left me motivated and i have shared it with dozens of family and friends so far.

I agree, with you that they are using some questionable  marketing techniques and perhaps missing the point in some areas..

And in dissecting it more... i am sure there are more faults..

But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

thank you for you pov bessie , much appreciated

Outfield

Beesie expressed my reaction very well.  The images were lovely, but the thought that a certain amount of money was put into producing it ticked me off.