Breast cancer: the campaign which shocked San Francisco

The posters put up in the streets of san Francisco in California could impress. For a campaign aimed to fight against the breast cancer, which was launched at the beginning of January 2000, models who underwent masectomies (removal of one or both breasts) had been photographed, naked offensive breasts, as in very glamorous fashion adverts. It was very disturbing. The effect was so powerful in this town, which has the highest level of breast cancer in the world, that many people were shocked and obtained the withdrawal of posters.

As a matter of fact, the campaign, which had to be launched in other cities of the United States, was stopped. However, it was published on the Internet on the website of the www.breastcancerfund.org which collects funds in order to fight against the breast cancer and to encourage prevention. There are also examples on this website of what is possible to do on the Web to support a noble cause: artistic testimonies with pictures or poems (Art rage US”), lots of information on the disease, its screening, its prevention (About the disease), connections between cancer and the environment (Environmental Health), etc.