“You can’t find me,” taunts a child’s voice as a small white spot appears and disappears against a cloudy black and blue background.
It sounds like an innocent game of hide-and-seek, but it’s actually a television ad currently running in PEI as part of its “Get Screened PEI” campaign.
Developed in collaboration with ad agency Partners and Edell, the campaign was launched on January 28 to increase awareness of and participation in cancer screening (breast, cervical, colorectal) for Islanders ages 40–60. Television and radio components of the campaign will run through April/May of this year and a second campaign is under development.
The three key components of the campaign are:
1) Health professional engagement to encourage doctors to talk to their patients about screening, and to prepare them if patients ask about it.
2) Community engagement to increase public awareness about screening and arm the target population with the information they need to make informed choices. Community members have been encouraged to host a “potluck with a purpose” event, sponsored by Paderno Kitchenware, where they can share healthy living tips and cancer screening information with their friends and family.
3) An awareness campaign to create a culture where screening is a routine part of a healthy lifestyle. The campaign is being advertised in the newspaper, on television and radio, and online.
Visitors to the campaign website are encouraged to fight cancer by signing up to receive screening reminders by e-mail. When a person signs up, a red dot with her or his name is marked by location on a map of PEI.
The site also contains important information about how and where to get screened for colon, breast, cervical and other types of cancers.
The core message of the campaign is clear: You can’t find cancer when it’s itsy bitsy, teeny weeny, but screening can.
