The Girls

There is a local ad on television, aimed at encouraging women to get a yearly mammogram.  The catch phrase is 'Take time for the Girls'.  The Girls are the breasts, of course.  Many local women felt compelled to write to the local paper, the Cancer Society, and Whoever Else would listen, complaining that the cute name objectified womanly features and demeaned women.  Oh, get over your hairy legged 'they're-out-to-get-us' self.  

First of all, anything that gets women motivated to get a mammogram is okey-doke by me.  And it isn't all about the well educated, free thinking urbanites like those women who were offended.  The message is intended for consumption by all women who have breasts.  Last I checked, that included farm women, homeless women, minimally educated women, so-called non-liberated traditional housewives, and their grandmothers.  

That humorous light ad just might just be the message that gets them thinking and gets them to go to be screened.  No scare tactics, no confusing statistics, just 'Hey, don't forget the girls'.  Last week, I had a patient who had had a resection of the breast due to an ultrasound-detected lump of cancer.  She was 86 years old.  She loves the ad.  The point is, some women think too personally about these things.  It is just as sexist to assume that all women think just alike as it is to relate not at all to women, as the patriarchal media often does.  

Health education programs must reach as many consumers as possible.  Patient education materials are geared toward a sixth grade reading level to address the greatest number of end users.  The grade level designation is based on research done with actual patients in a large sample longitudinal study. The fact is that most patients fall into the sixth grade reading level designation.

So, I love the ads.  I love the humor, the fresh approach, the familiarity and you-deserve-it message. Women have been referring to their breasts as 'the Girls' for years, and this campaign simply uses women's own private language to get an important message across.