We’ve just launched our new advertising campaign. You can watch it here:
There are no actors in the advert. Instead, real cancer survivors and patients talk about the impact Cancer Research UK has had on their lives, while some of the cancer doctors we fund talk about their research.
Our aim is to show the progress we’re making in the fight against cancer, whilst highlighting the need to continue our work. You can find out more about the campaign and how you can support us on our website.
The ad will first be broadcast during Monday night’s Coronation Street, on ITV1 at 8.45pm.
We’d really like to know what you think, so we can continue to improve the way we communicate and discuss cancer. So please do leave your comments in the box below.
If you’d like to know more about the progress we’ve made and the work still to be done please visit aboutus.cancerresearchuk.org/what-we-do/research/
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Comments
Pamela Harris July 23, 2010
Having been personally touched by a close member of my family diagnosed with bowel cancer and following the operation and chemo we are all very positive. I do feel that whilst your advert is very good in highlighting the wonderful work and how very important reserch is into cancer and would want everyone to be touched by it to give a donation, my heart sinks at the end when it is mentioned “it has returned”. I know that there is a possibility that for some people this may happen. But this to me must frighten and cause people like my daughter to go into a complete panick at a time when her young husband of 29 and only being married for 18 months is being so positive for the future. There have been months of being on an emotional roller coaster and now that chemo has just finished these young people look forward to the future.
As a mother I want to keep my darlings positive.
Julie July 23, 2010
Some people have criticised the ad for being too negative (“It’s come back”) – but think what would have happened if the ad had simply gone on about how progress was being made, how more people can survive cancer now, etc etc….then it would have been criticised for being overly positive and ignoring those patients who are not going to survive!
Personally, I simply cannot see any point in wasting money on an advert that only says how much better things are now for cancer patients! Yes, some people are surviving cancer, or at least living a lot, lot longer than they once did. But far, far too many are not.
And, believe me, if some people here are finding it distresing to be reminded that one day they may be told “it’s come back”, how about sparing a thought for those, like my husband, who had to hear, right at the moment of diagnosis, that it was already terminal. That there was NO chance for him at all!
In this day and age, a late diagnosis of cancer is not just tragic – it’s a disgrace.
Louise Sandison July 22, 2010
Very good advert – straight and to the point. Made more of an impact because it was not done by actors. Certainly does not need music.
jenny sharp July 21, 2010
Love the fact that people with real life experience of cancer were prepared to take part to help others.
Full of admiration.
Roops you are just fab! we miss ya!
Anita-Jayne Oliver July 20, 2010
I saw it, it delivers hope about what we are all doing, I am doing the best I can with my race for life and sponsors, but its her face, at the end, I saw it on my mum’s face and you made me cry. I just want to hold everyone with that face and tell them it’s going to be alright, but it’s not is it. KEEP FIGHTING, please, there is a cure out there I know, we will find it just hold on til we do OKAY. I love you all living and sadly dead.
alex berry July 19, 2010
This advert is briliant i hope it catches peoples minds to cancer. i lost my nan to cancer 1 month ago and will be donating 2 pounds a month and doing every 10 k run i can to raise money im even thinking about doing a marathon im in i just hope everyone else is too
Brian Overend July 19, 2010
The proof of the pudding is in the eating and time will tell if this ad has been a success.I think that it is very good and gets the point across.For those who think that music would help then I say why not try it with music but I would suggest something like Fleetwood Macs Albatross would be something that would stick in the mind.
Tina July 19, 2010
As someone who had breast cancer 5 years ago I am well aware that “it can come back” but really don’t want myself of my family to be reminded while relaxing watching TV. I find it frustrating that in the UK we donate more money to cancer research per head than any other country in EU but so many of the new drugs are not available to us or we have a long fight or we are just told they are not cost effective………Before you are diagnosed you don’t realise this, you hear about breakthroughs and new drugs and think great but then after diagnosis you find out these drugs are not available to you on the NHS but your oncologist asks if you have private health care, you might get the drugs that way! and you wonder why you supported CR for all these years!
Also I would like to know why I received this email in the first place?
Emma July 19, 2010
This ad really make you think, it is both positive and realistic covering both side of Cancer, I can speak from experince of having been in remisssion for the past 2 years I understand some of the negative comments with regards the closing statement however I am also aware that for us to move forward with a break through for Cancer we have to accpect all aspect of the diesase. I hope that people can draw on the positive that Cancer Research has accomplished over the many years.
Heather McNiven July 19, 2010
Surely, in the field of cancer research, money IS everything; no money = no research, no progress, no development of better drugs with less side effects, no improvement in survival rates, no cure eventually. I live everyday with the fact that my cancer could come back. I had lobular breast cancer, which could happen again in either breast totally unrelated to the cancer I had before, so that extra fear is always there on the back burner. I want that cure to be found!
Russell July 18, 2010
I like the advert, But I also think it could have done with some background music.
Mrs Ball July 18, 2010
I had to write about the recent advert on television, in my opion it is disgusting, it’s bad enough having cancer, without being told it can come back, we all know this and do not need to be reminded, in my opion it is cruel and thoughtless to say the least – it’s a bit like saying don’t think your safe just because you have had the all clear, I can’t even bear to write down the last sentence of the advert, because it is every ones greatest fear, I think it is disgusting, it’s bad enough that cancer is used as a threat to all society to police them to behave how the government wants us to with out doing this, I really object to this advert and I will stop sending my donations untill it stops, after all most of the reserch is done by students who pay to do it. I am really really upset and angry. And yes afraid, every day of my life for the rest of my life, thanks for reminding me.
Stibule July 18, 2010
I saw this advert on television before reading the e mail asking for comments. Both my husband and I found it very moving. Our 8 year old son died of leukaemia last year after initially responding very well to chemotherapy, so we, too, have heard both sides of the advert. Although it is upsetting to see on television that this horrible disease can come back after it seems that it has been beaten, that is the bitter truth of it. It certainly should not stop people from getting the most out of their life while they have it, but the advert hits home hard to people who have NOT been through this experience and that is exactly what it needs to do, to get them to donate and fund a cure. By the way, while our son was dying from his cancer which now has an 80% success rate, we met another family whose child had an extremely rare form of lung cancer, with no known survivors. A year on, she has recovered, her hair has grown back, she is at school and probably not many of her friends know that she had cancer – there is ALWAYS hope…
Roseann July 18, 2010
I am 2 years in remission from AML. The advert is awful especially the ‘it has come back’. I am a very positive person which helped me survive but I find this advert extremely upsetting, I cannot watch it.
I cannot believe that the person who thought up this advert actually had cancer!
Alison July 18, 2010
Well it took me a while to summon up the courage to enter a comment on this site and then my post got lost in tranisiton. I understand that every charity is really struggling for funds at the moment but I believe there are ways and ways to go about seeking donations and I think your marketing people got this one wrong if only on the sensitivity front. I do not know anyone who is not afraid of cancer and so surely an ad which says what you are doing and what you would like to do and the fact that you have no other funding would say it all. To be honest it feels like a bit of a cynical ploy to play on the fears of those whose lives have already been touched directly by cancer with the “it’s come back” line. As someone who is working very hard to keep the fear of that down to manageable size and knowing that negative thoughts can have a negative impact on my health it is not helpful to have an ad shining a light on something I had managed to put away and I know I’m not the only one. We all know Macmillan deal with terminal care but their ads are kind and sensitive, this one seems to have an unkind and hard edge. Cancer is hard enough on its own without the marketing crew then adding to it.
Alison Scarborough July 18, 2010
I have finally plucked up the courage to make a comment about this advert. I think that someone in the marketing department has misunderstood the aim of the advert. I fully understand how hard it is for all charities to get funding in this current climate but to, what feels if I’m honest, cynically play on the fear of every person whose life has been touched by cancer either directly or indirectly with the “its come back” at the end of the ad in order to gain donations is surely the wrong way to go about things. This ad has a hard edge and feels unkind unlike the Macmillan ads that whilst dealing directly with peoples same fears come across as kind and sensitive. I do not know anyone who does not fear cancer. Talk about what you are doing, what you want to do to hit it and hit it hard but please oh please do not keep shining the light on the fear of recurrence that any of us who have had cancer have managed to tuck away in a corner so that we have to deal with it again and again. Negative thoughts are not good for our health. I may of course be the only one who struggles to keep these thoughts in check but I think it unlikely.
Nick Bedford July 18, 2010
I have lost both of my parents and a more distant family relation to cancer. I am a Cancer Reseach supporter, but I do not like the new advert for two reasons. Firstly, the advert concentrates too much on the negative “It’s come back” aspect. Secondly, the style is awful. When faced with any presentation, be it an advert or any other TV program, where the shot changes every couple of seconds, I simply switch off. The style is irritating and simply detracts from the message rather than enhancing it. You really need to do better than this if you wish to drum up more support for such a worthy cause!
Swotof July 17, 2010
I am disappointed with your tv ad which mentions cancer recurrence. It would seem this is a central marketing theme this year as there was also a lady talking live about her recurrence at the Race for Life event I ran this year.
As a survivor of breast cancer myself (5 years in), recurrence is NOT something I want to hear about.
I suspect you’re trying to raise funds by any means but this is not the way forward. If you want my continued support, I suggest you come up with a “Plan B”.
Deborah Atkinson July 17, 2010
Well done to the people who featured in the advert, a good advert to the point- you do not need music, this is real !!! and it effects families, we need to have the research without it more people will not survive; our daddy died of bowel cancer; however because of the research more people survive like my sister, both my sons and me. I will continue to give in ways I can like the ‘Race for Life’. People need to know the truth. Thank you
Linda Scott July 17, 2010
My daughter has just finished her chemo treatment and is due for radiotherapy, she has grade 3 aggressive cancer of the breast and young children. To be sitting in front of the T.V. and the advert comes on ,which is very positive until the last moments, then the words` it`s come back`. Well she was so upset she couldn`t sleep that night. Surely if 1 in 3 people are touched by cancer either directly or indirectly then this advert has no positive meaning unless the last part is removed. People are not stupid they know how things can turn out and they give generously all the time but for my daughters sake and others like her worried about the future please remove the saddening last part of your advert.
djb July 17, 2010
I thought it was good until the end, it is upsetting to me. If people cannot donate without being told that people die from cancer and that cancer can come back then they must be pretty isolated. I have only recently been told that my cancer has spread to my liver and have not told my family yet, I am waiting until I can give them more facts about my treatment and/or chance of survival, to sit there when the lovely woman appears at the end for me is heartbreaking. I have read the comment from her mother and my heart goes out to her as my sister died from a cancer three months from diagnosis so unfortunately I can see it from the patient’s and the relative’s viewpoint, but I think the further sadness caused to people with cancer cannot be justified by the fact that maybe someone will donate some money. Money is not everything.
Stella July 17, 2010
Simple, to the point- there was no confusing the message with unconvincing actors, distracting music or over-done visuals.
Good luck with this campaign, hope it brings in all the help you deserve.
maxine July 17, 2010
The ad is ok BUT my mother died of cancer in November 07 and this will be my secound year for doing the cancer research run for life,And I’m really proud that Im trying to do my bit to help others is raising money. But I would really love to see some black people in your ad because they say you never no how it feels until it hit home and ever since my mother had passed away with cancer so many people I know now has either passed or suffering with this diease, so please we are out there to (black people) dieing and fighting for our life, so show that we are being recognise to.
Gillian July 17, 2010
I can appreciate the concept, but splitting whole sentences up between different people made it all distractingly bitty for me.
(Sorry!)
ali July 23, 2010
This has been extremely upsetting for my family which is trying to deal with the traumas of cancer in a dearly loved relation right now; it is especially upsetting for the children too. I don’t think the flicking about from person to person works particularly well because you really have to concentrate to pick up what’s going on. Most of all, I don’t think it will have any effect on people who have not been exposed to the awfulness of the disease; for the rest of us, who already support the cause, well… some people might be wondering why our donations are being spent on an ad campaign which – at the end – emotionally punches those already affected where it hurts, and will most likely wash over the rest of the population. A rethink definitely needed please.