I’m often accused of being anti advertising which I’m not. I’m just anti the use of advertising to solve all branding problems. And I’m anti the use of advertising as the only tool to build a brand. Oh, and I’m anti the use of advertising to communicate one corporate defined position to as many people as possible across as many channels as possible, simply because this was a solution fifty years ago and is therefore the solution today.
And to prove I’m not anti advertising, here is a link to what is possibly one of the most stunning ads I’ve seen.
I don’t know if it was allowed to be shown on TV (it’s from the UK) and I’m still trying to work out whether it is shockingly effective or effectively shocking, but it certainly grabs and keeps your attention. What do you think?
brandconsultantasia.com 
I think it’s unecessarily skanky… sort of talks down to men as if it were the only way to get their attention, even on life-threatening matters.
Wait.. is this true?! Even so, no need to reinforce with this flavour.. lame, trivialising and devaluing – both to men and women.
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Skanky? There’s a word I haven’t heard for a while! Thanks for your comment. I read somewhere once that so many male afflictions such as testicular cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer etc, can be avoided simply by a simple examination such as the one portrayed in such an eye catching manner yet a large percentage of men don’t bother. This ad certainly made me cop a feel!
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I agree that self-examinations are key to many early detections & prevention. I only raise an eyebrow to the conveying & execution of this message as in this iteration.
Still, the bottomline of your comment reinforces proof-of-the-pud notion – Agency certainly knew how to reach the target audience! Would be interesting to hear comments from a cross-section of men…
Oh, am female, btw.
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Thanks for identifying your gender!
I think talking down to men has proven enourmously successful over the years! Let me rephrase that, the idea that talking down to men in commercials will be effective has been the norm for many years – think beer, many automotive ads etc
On a serious note, I was sent the link by a male friend who had breast cancer and survived. It never occured to him to examine himself. But with such issues, I think most men only start worrying about such issues once they reach a certain age so I don’t know if this would be an effective TVC, assuming of course that it was allowed to be shown on TV. But it is certainly entertaining and original and well executed.
As for trivialising and devaluing women I didn’t get that!
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