Rethink Breast Cancer’s latest awareness campaign that features a video of chiseled, shirtless men to engage women and encourage them to conduct regular breast self-exams has garnished more than a million online views in less than four weeks. The hit viral video promotes a downloadable mobile app called the Your Man Reminder and features a male model who examines his own breasts and gives various suggestions for how to examine breasts by showing them some TLC, which refers to touch, look and check.
Designed by the Toronto-based advertising agency John St., the app has already become an overnight success, with over 38,000 downloads. The app allows women to choose from one of six attractive men who will send them an automated reminder to conduct breast self- exams. Women can share the app through social networking websites with friends to see what man they would pick and can also customize the app’s calendar settings and add appointment reminders.
This is not the first time Rethink Breast Cancer has taken a non-traditional marketing approach, using sex and humour to engage women and promote awareness of breast cancer. Rethink’s 2009 Save the Boobs video—which featured a MTV Canada’s Aliya-Jasmine Sovani in a bikini—also went viral with overwhelming success; drawing media attention from major U.S. television shows like The View, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Good Morning America.
John St. also has a history of edgy approaches in awareness campaigns and was behind Stanfield’s Ltd’s successful “A Guy at Home in his Underwear” social media initiative, which featured a round-the-clock webcam feed of Mark, testicular cancer survivor who spent 25 days in his Stanfield’s underwear without leaving his home. The campaign was designed to fund testicular cancer awareness activities and educate men to recognize the risks, signs and symptoms of this disease.
