As you check out this British ad campaign, featuring a bunch of dopey-looking (but hot in a gay way?) male actors who first pretend not to know what a cervix is, then lecture us silly ladies about how we really ought to look after ours. Their web site, until recently, featured the “top ten excuses” (now nine) that women use for not getting Pap smears, including two gems that have since been deleted: “I don’t have time. Going for cervical screening should be part of your overall health and beauty regime. You are never to busy to have your hair cut, so you should always make time for a smear. ” And: “It’s disgusting. Yes, well we can’t argue with that one. Nobody enjoys going for a smear (think about the poor nurses and doctors at the receiving end!). But you may feel better when you realise that the only one it’s a big deal to is you.”
Via Lauredhel at Hoyden About Town, who points out the ad’s similarity to “Tee-Hee! Boobies!” breast-cancer awareness ads like this one.
I’m so confused. Why are they targeting gay men with ads encouraging pap smears? Is this something British-y?
who better to inform you about your cervix than a bunch of queens? personally i would do just about anything the guy in the grey sweater told me. but then i don’t have a cervix.
As you read this incomprehensible sentence, beginning with a dependent clause (but hot in a gay way?), then harangue us poor Slog readers about… about… whatever the sentence says. Which is what? And then tell me what the post is saying. KThx.
Anyway, I bet it turns out to be a pretty effective PSA.
Will you please be mores specific about what I’m supposed to be up in arms about?
and yet you’ve posted a psa that is targeting women in another country. and, have gotten people to talk about cervical screening. i think they got you erica!
Yea! Vagina Yea!
whut?
They are pretty hot. Woo! Cervix savvy!
I dunno, they kinda made me chuckle.
Just what is “hot in a gay way”? Are you saying that all gay men find a certain type of man hot, or that women find a certain type of gay man hot, or something else entirely?
Way to be offensive while complaining about finding something offensive.
Erica, you work in an office of fags and you think THOSE are hot gay guys?!?!?!
“think about the poor nurses and doctors at the receiving end!?”
Think about this: Enough people actually thought that this utterance was a way to persuade a woman to get a pap smear for it to have made its way onto the website.
Unbefuckinglievable.
ECB has got to be the most offended person in the world. Seriously, there isn’t an ad, book, speech or metro decision that doesn’t deeply wound and insult her.
I think it would have been much more appropriate to have a bunch of angry sweaty Seattle women lecture to those dumb British girls about womyn’s health. Men are never an appropriate messenger on this issue, because most womyn’s health problems are caused by men.
“think about the poor nurses and doctors at the receiving end!?”
Really? REALLY, people? They really think that doctors and nurses, who have seen, handled, and smelled shit and vomit, and treated oozing pus-filled infections and fecal impactions, find anything offensive about normal, healthy female genitalia? If a gynecologist finds it that unpleasant to carry out such a basic and routine medical test, he or she really should start looking into another profession.
I’m with you, ECB. I’d bet hard cash against these ads being effective.
@14 agreed. Reinforcing the idea that a pap smear is gross – which it’s not at all, not in the least – is an incredibly counterproductive move. This marketing campaign sucks.
Who knows what research went into this ad. What constitutes effective marketing is quite frequently counter-intuitive.
But don’t let that stop you making uninformed snap judgements.
Then again, I shouldn’t be _too_ harsh, you’re only paraphrasing the cheap outrage of the original site.
But then again – you have push out several link-bait articles a day, so we can’t expect too much original thought behind these.
Hey, slog jerks! Feel free not to make ass-holish comments on posts about cervices. You can skip these over, you know.
If you want “good marketing”, how about starting by changing the name? A “pap smear” sounds gross. How about calling it a “vajayjay spead”? Or “panty spritz”?
and refrain from cervix-ish comments about assholes, too, while you’re at it!
@17, in ECB’s defense, she didn’t mention anything about effectiveness. That was me. Having some experience in marketing to women regarding medical/health-related issues gives me some purview in that area. Point taken, but my money stays put.
While I don’t entirely agree with the Hoyden About Town post on the topic, it is certainly annoying to see the grossed out / confused reaction to female physiology played up in an ad that should be fighting it. Embarrassment and ignorance are factors that prevent women from obtaining health care. The intent of the ad is obviously to make light of these things in an attempt to relate to women, but I think in execution the attempt fails miserably.
Ugh.
….or it could be they aren’t marketing it sweaty angry Seattle manhaters, and that it works for normal women.
I think that the ad was good as it was because that is the way that some women need to hear the pap smear message. The most successful advertising campaigns target a very specific group of people, and this campaign was designed for women who think like that (comparing beauty to health and their body to something gross).
Since when did “sweaty” get added to the cliche of the “angry manhater?” Has this insult been evolving somehow, or is it just this thread?
…nice to see it can still get swung around anytime without regard for whether or not there is any actual anger or man-hating going on, though. You can always count on that old standby.
Semi off-topic, but the so-called “cervical cancer vaccine?” It’s not a cervical cancer vaccine. It’s a vaccine against herpes…. oh, and it also happens to prevent some cervical cancer, but that’s on the side, sweetums.
Some fucking marketing went into this bitch to make people think it’s an anti-cancer when in truth it’s just a STD vaccine, with anti-cancer on the far sidelines.
If not for god and jesus, this would just be a normal hpv drug, hailed as such and used as such and marketed as such. But because of god and jesus we have to pretend this is about cancer. When it’s not.
If religion, god, and jeebus ever just die out, I will be 100% happier.
@25, you are confusing herpes (HSV) with HPV, some strains of which can cause genital warts, some strains of which can cause cervical cancer. NEVER herpes. They are two completely different viruses.
Also, the strains of HPV that cause genital warts are not life-threatening. Genital warts are annoying, but they are purely a cosmetic issue. So to imply that the genital wart-preventing part of the vaccine is somehow more important than the “anti-cancer” part of the vaccine is, uh…a bit off the mark. Which one has the potential to kill you?
I see where you’re going with the religious thing, and you might have a point, if you weren’t completely wrong about everything else you wrote.
Educate yourself, and next time you post about this you will make some sense: http://www.gardasil.com/
okay, what is wrong with me exactly? why am I so attracted to gay men? Am I the only one who thought those guys were hot? Tell me more about my cervix luscious!
I guess I’m just a sucker for any cute boy who pretends to care about women’s health! lol
ECB posts often remind me of that scene in Airplane! where the woman says something like, “as long as this country is run by meat eating males planes will continue to crash!”
The foolish joke in a silly movie has become real at The Stranger.
@25 the vaccine protects against HPV-16 and 18, which are responsible for over 70% of all cervical cancers. it’s not just a sideline thing, it’s kind of the whole point.
Someone should make one about prostate cancer in response, this time featuring a bunch of hot young women talking about guys’ “bits” and wondering if a prostate has something to do with sex. I mean, what better way to inspire more men to get regular rectal exams, right?
Wait. What??