“I wish I had breast cancer”.
It’s probably not a sentence you ever thought you’d hear. It’s a deeply unpleasant. But it’s the slogan of a new campaign for pancreatic cancer awareness.
The Pancreatic Cancer Action campaign has been slammed around the world for being “insensitive”, “offensive”, “repugnant” and “deeply hurtful”. It’s been panned on Twitter, by online news outlets and in the mainstream media. Survivors of breast cancer and many families of its victims are angry that anyone should say such a thing.
But I think it’s brilliant. It’s brave, powerful and it’s necessary. It’s exactly the kind of video I’d make if I ever found myself marketing cancer research.
Take a minute to watch it, and we’ll talk.
The ad features two genuine pancreatic cancer patients dealing with the grim realities of their diagnoses. A clipped British voice speaks: “You’ve just found out you have cancer. Pancreatic cancer. You’re not even sure where your pancreas is. So it can’t be one of the big ones… can it?”
Haunting music chimes in, as we’re reminded that pancreatic cancer is one of the most vicious killers. It has a 3% survival rate.
Cut to a man, who stares down the barrel of the camera and says, “I wish I had testicular cancer.”A woman looks at you desperately and utters, “I wish I had breast cancer.”
There’s that sentence again. “I wish I had breast cancer.”