Provocative Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign Wants Women to Send Nudes…To Themselves
This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, female-owned and led agency YARD NYC is hijacking one of the internet’s most familiar requests, “Send Nudes,” asking women to take topless selfies – for themselves. The purpose? To track visual changes in the breasts, which can be an early indicator of breast cancer. YARD NYC is on a mission to empower a new generation of women with awareness and resources at a time when breast cancer is more commonly affecting women under the age of 50.
Based on the insight that 62.6% of women said they were not confident they would notice a change in their breasts, the grassroots campaign is asking women to Send Nudes to themselves (or those close to them) every 6 months as a reference for any visual changes…and hopefully early detection. Spreading the word about staying aware of breast changes is a passion point for YARD NYC’s CEO, Ruth Bernstein, whose firsthand experience with early breast cancer taught her that there are clear visual signs that can help women detect health changes early on.
“We know every line on our face, every gray hair on our heads, every squish on our bellies,” says Bernstein. “Culturally, we’re obsessed with all these other bodily changes, but we don’t even notice our own tits. So what if we turned the familiar language of sending nudes into a reminder to know your own boobs?”
Research shows that breast cancer rates are rising twice as fast among women under 50 as among women 50+, and 85% of women diagnosed have no family history of breast cancer. Furthermore, women in their 30s tend to think of breast cancer as an “older” woman’s problem. But as breast cancer rates rise, YARD NYC is calling on women to save some topless pics, and pay closer attention.
“Breast cancer awareness has a long history of telling women what to worry about. We wanted to give them something to actually do. And to reach a younger generation in a language that feels relevant to them, not like another health warning,”says Caroline Seklir, Head of Strategy at Yard NYC. “The idea is that we’re normalizing this for a new generation of women that are coming of age in a selfie-driven world, and giving them the power of awareness on their own terms – long before they’re of age for a mammogram.”
The eye-catching campaign centers on wild postings throughout NYC, which plasters “SEND NUDES” and a QR code on busy intersections like North 7th and Bedford in Williamsburg and near Dimes Square in the Lower East Side. The QR code leads to a landing page called sendnudestoyourself.com that reveals the real recipient of the nudes: yourself, and links to breast health resources for visible signs and symptoms such as unexplained change in size or shape, dimpling anywhere on the breast, discharge from the nipple, among other signs.
“Send Nudes” is live now through the end of October. In addition to OOH and a dedicated website, YARD NYC is taking to social media to drive online support and is launching limited-edition stickers and merch that mimic dating culture’s “You Up?”, “Pic?”, and more as prompts for women to Send Nudes.
About YARD NYC
Yard NYC is an independent, female-led, creative company that turns brands into beacons of change that move people, businesses and the world.
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