The Greatest Awareness Campaign Ever?
I realized something a couple of years ago. I was aware! It was October and I saw a little pink ribbon and I knew that October was breast cancer awareness month. Now every October things are a little less orange and black and little more pink. A little more information is crammed into my mind through a national multi-media, multi-product, multi-retailer decentralized campaign.
I still don’t know who Susan G. Komen is (well, I do now that I wrote this post), but I knew she had something to do with the race for the cure. I know early detection is the key. I know every woman over 40 should have a mammogram annually. I know why those t-shirts that say “Save the Ta-Tas.” And I know that breast cancer affects 1 in 8 women.
This may not seem like a big deal, but it is, especially since I’m a man. Because I can’t tell you off the top of my head any other “awareness” month, though I’m sure there is one for anything and everything. I also can’t rattle off any facts, figures or fund-raising groups for other diseases. It’s a truly amazing awareness campaign. So how did all of this come to be? Here are some quick facts that will give you an abbreviated history lesson. You may be surprised how it started.
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) was started in 1985 by the drug company AstraZeneca. In 1991, the Susan G. Komen Foundation handed out pink ribbons to participants in its New York City race for breast cancer survivors. In 1993 Evelyn Lauder, Senior Corporate Vice President of the Estée Lauder Companies founded The Breast Cancer Research Foundation and adopted the Pink Ribbon as its symbol. Today these three entities and countless others join together every October to increase awareness, promote prevention and raise money for research into a cure. They’ve even worked their way into partnerships that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago (See NFL Picture).
Last weekend the NFL did an amazing job promoting NBCAM as ribbons were painted on the fields and players highlighted uniforms with pink accoutrements.
I used to think it was all kind of silly. It seemed anywhere and everywhere you’d see someone else was putting a pink ribbon on his or her product, or collecting money for this cure and that race. I thought how self-serving it was to attach your name to a cause just to get people to buy your product. I’m still skeptical of some, but I’m starting to think maybe the ends justify the means. Since the early 1990’s breast cancer deaths have steadily declined. If a corporation is going to sell-out, it might as well be for a good cause.
The success of NBCAM should be a lesson to anyone who want to do an “awareness” campaign. What works best is time, repetition, participation, and most importantly a compelling reason to be aware.
Josh Fahey is a freelance copywriter with a passion for creating creative yet strategic content and communications. Check out his website where you can find his blog, portfolio and resume. joshuawfahey@gmail.com or Twitter.
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