The National Health Service (NHS), a publicly funded healthcare group, utilized marketing techniques designed to tug on women’s heartstrings and instill fear in an effort to increase cervical cancer screening in the United Kingdom. The NHS used carefully crafted appeals to emotion in their creation of this original poster:
The NHS employs imagery and headlines designed to appeal to emotion through use of marketing tactics such as the following excerpt from the Cervical Screening Social Marketing Project reveals:
“Ideal creative format: Imagery – crucial to be able to read the hurt in the eyes. image should unambiguously convey loss/grief (quiet crying vs. noisy crying). close-up important. context helps (stairs/on the bed). Headline – needs to refer to smear test, ‘my mum missed her smear test now I miss my mum’ was most compelling headline” http://www.cervicalscreeningproject.com/whatdidwedo/developandtest/phase2/servicepush2.php
Ann, a woman from the United Kingdom, has utilized the same marketing tactics that are used by the NHS to turn the tables in the following revised and revealing featured image:Cervical cancer screening should always be each individual woman’s choice; a choice that is free from coercion, free from practitioners’ efforts to profit and reach screening targets, and free from propaganda that aims to manipulate the hearts and fears of women.
Thank you to Ann (March 17, 2013 at 11:29 am)
Great idea, let NHS face their own weapon! Would be good to write something like:
“My mum trusted cervical screening. She was hurt for no benefit, and now hates everything that comes with being a woman.”
That would reflect the truth behind the screening program.
Dear Sue, thanks for the post. I made a “revised” edition- http://tinypic.com/r/2lkfhx5/6 (I think i’ts better, could u swap them?) And I am putting together an abstract for an article (I’m a postgrad sociology student by day, and have friends in the media) with the title “”The NHS feeds the uneducated and the struggling through the meat grinder in order to protect a screening program that was implemented without randomised controlled trials”. Btw they admit that participation is below 80%, and the Bristol study states that in oder for the pogrm to have an effect on the mortality rates the participation must reach at least 80%, due to the rarity of the cancer and the inaccuracy of the test. These people have ABSOLUTELY no decency or shame. I am boiling with anger when I think of it.
Thank you Ann. I like the new version also. However, I also like the original one you made and I cannot swap them now as this one has had input as is – but people can click on the new version from the link you provided. And this way people can access both versions. It sounds like a very interesting abstract you are working on . . . I hope you keep me posted!
If you take a further look at the design of the “social marketing project, http://www.cervicalscreeningproject.com/whatdidwedo/developandtest/phase2/index.php They say for the focus group sampling “Each group consisted of core ACORN group N (Struggling Families) with some ACORN group M (Blue Collar Roots)/O (Burdened Singles).. ..None of the participants were educated past 18″ – blatantly and shamelessly preying on the struggling and the uneducated. I assume the more middle class folk has figured it out by now that this barbaric test is not exactly the best thing since sliced bread, so now they are resorting to such desperate measures.
Ann, I’ve just been on the site (the link you pasted) and I can’t believe it is really happening in the UK – in the country where women are supposed to be treated equally with men. No, it is just beyond my comprehension. And the picture of another weeping child. Ann, don’t you think it is enough? Don’t you think that the NHS has gone too far? I believe they should be charged with a lot of money for using such gibberish, and what’s more, for intimidating, for harrying women. My question is: How dare they? How dare they attempt to make us feel guilty – of what?! I’m asking of what?! Of not complying to the program ”thanks to” which so many women have had further unnecessary mutilating treatments because of the false positives? Yeah – these ”carers” are paid not only for doing paps but also for further medical procedures. Am I right or wrong? Or am I just stupefied at this point? How long is it going to last?! Why does NHS scare people?!
I feel like shouting to every woman: THINK BEFORE YOU ARE THE VICTIM OF THE HEALTH ”CARERS”.
Ann, this is absolutely great. Your job is excellent and it must go everywhere so that women see it and stop being gullible (as they are thought to be by the horrible medical industry where ONLY MONEY MATTERS – IT IS ALL FOR MONEY). And think that there are so many serious diseases which could be treated and for which money should be given by the government.
How I wish more women from the country I come from knew English so that they open their eyes.
Thank you, Ann
Can you imagine that in 2009, the former Polish Health Minister (a woman!) Ewa Kopacz, with her lobby of gynaecologists and oncologists – she herself is a pedriatrician – wanted to introduce COMPULSORY INTIMATE EXAMINATIONS: PAP SMEAR AND MAMMOGRAPHY FOR ALL WOMEN WHO WERE GOING TO WORK! The horrible exams were to have been ”medical examinations of work medicine” and she planned such examinations every two years, so the same woman was supposed to have the examinations once every two years. Of course, the stupid, very humiliating and offending exams weren’t brought into life because people protested and one woman wrote a petition which was signed by not even 2000 people (mostly women and few men signed it as well). But, though we were against it, strongly against it, many, I would say great numbers of women in Poland said we are stupid because we wanted other women (them) to have cervical cancer! Well, the women were really brainwashed and unfortunately, many Polish women are brainwashed. Something like the question of personal freedom, inviolability, mental and physical rape did not exist and do not exist for them! Believe it or not, but great great numbers of them have a pap smear done every year – for their own wish! Believe it or not, but millions of Polish women go to gynaecologists every year to check if they are ”healthy”. Believe it or not, an awful lot of Polish women can’t imagine having a contraception pill without going to a gynaecologist! They do so because they have no idea that such things are absolutely unnecessary, even harmful! Well, it is the matter of being brainwashed and then you will believe anything. Can you imagine that in Poland women have their pregnancies taken ‘care’ of by whom? – nobody else but gynaecologists. Yes, with the horrible internal gynaecological exams during pregnancy! In 2011 a new law was introduced for midwives – that they are allowed to take care of a pregnant woman. However, women can’t think of a midwife taking care of her pregnancy – really very very very few women in Poland go to midwives with their pregnancies. And just think that up to 1975 or something gynaecologists hadn’t taken care of pregnant women, but midwives. It’ll be hard to turn this situation over and make Polish women trust midwives as well as make them stop thinking that a gynaecologist is a Guru. Gynaecology is, unfortunately, a lucrative business in Poland. It must be beyond your comprehension. But, on the other hand, more and more young women buy contraceptive pills online and I think it all will be gradually changing, generally and sooner or later women will see that midwives can normally take care of pregnancy, that pap smears are really unnecessary, that gynaecologists make a lot of money on women’s gullibility.
Just one moe thing – when introducing of the stupid compulsory intimate examinations was unsuccessful, the governmant started to threaten women that they would have to pay higher NIN contributions for the medical sector – but it was just rubbish.
Look how horribly governments treat women, how much they want to control them and – what is worst of all – do various medical experiments on them. As far as I know (I’ve read it somewhere on the Internet), women in Germany have invitations for pap every year, women in China who work as civil servants have compulsory gynaecological examinations plus a pap (something like every two years – I’m not sure about it). I once read (I don’t know whether it’s true or not) on the Internet that women in Lithuania must undergo a pap smear so as to have their driving licence issued. Well, I believe that in many countries all over the world, women undergo the humiliating medical procedures just because they are women. Men aren’t coerced into having their prostate checked for cancer, nor do they have anything like that compulsory. It’s not true that we women are treated equally with men, no matter it is the UK, Poland, Lithuania or China.
I nearly forgot – in the 90s women in Poland who wanted to be midwives and nurses had to undergo a pap smear – disgusting! I don’t know what the situation looks like now – I think it’s not any more. I’ll check it – I can’t find it on the net but I ‘ll search for it.
Cheers
We must fight for our rights and our basic right is inviolability.
Jola, it is not too hard to believe all these horrifying facts. I have friends in Eastern Europe and heard the stories. Unfortunately, there are too many people who are convinced that they can and should decide for others and tell the others what to do with their own bodies and health. The sad thing is that not only governments think they can shove tool in our genitals whenever they want for wherever reason they come up with, but there are plenty of brainwashed women who insist that the governments proceed with the appalling ideas of forced mass rapes (compulsory gynecological examinations) because they believe it will save them from illnesses.
I can’t comprehend why such people feel free to tell the others what to do. If they do believe that their health benefits from ridiculously frequent pap smears or gyn exams – kudos to them – they can have their cervixes scraped and tools shoved up their vaginas every day if they wish. Nobody denies them this opportunity. But that is not enough: they are eager to make it COMPULSORY FOR EVERYONE.
What’s the point? The less smart women go to gynecologists, the more doctors the gullible women can have for themselves. Perhaps, they actually hate those exams and only do them because they have been brainwashed that they must do them, otherwise they surely get cancers, but they don’t want to suffer from the exams alone, they want everyone else to go through the harmful and unnecessary procedures too. Perhaps, that makes their inflamed brain feel better.
Why can’t they understand that every single person is the master of the own body? No one should be attempting to force any medical intervention on anyone else.
Al, You were interested in the Delphi Screener. This information comes from David Tan in Singapore, the representative for Delphi Bioscience in the region.
Apparently they’re in the final stages of appointing an Australian distributor for the Delphi Screener. Presumably, this means women won’t have to mail their samples back to a lab in Singapore. Hopefully, you can order the device online and have your sample analyzed here. I haven’t made contact with Mr. Fotia yet, but the email address is:
frankfotia@netspace.net.au
David Tan’s email is
david.tan@delphi-bioscience.asia
I’d be grateful if you could post any additional information for the benefit of other women, in particular, how you order the device and the cost.
Good luck…
Thank you Elizabeth.
It is very nice to see that Australian women may soon get an opportunity to bypass the pap-nonsense and do a self-test if they are concerned about HPV. I wasn’t planning to test any time soon, just trying to get some information about available options for the future, but I will certainly share my experience online if I do order the test.
I only hope that the purchase of Delphi Screener and its analysis will be totally separate from all Australian government, medical authorities or the medical system’s control, and they will offer an option to test anonymously. Because if any of my private or personal information will be passed to some pesky cervical cytology registers or disclosed to Medicare, I will certainly choose not to order the test. I am fed up with my private details being passed around by doctors and Medicare without my consent or control. It seems like there is no such thing as true privacy of medical records in this country. The only person the information is hidden from is the patient. That was the main reason why I stopped going to doctors: they always demand too much personal information, and then deny my full access to my own health records. So I was forced to make a decision: if I don’t get total control of my health information or don’t get the right to see doctors anonymously, no one gets my personal info, which means not going to doctors, nor dealing with Medicare.
I would hope that the Delphi Screener would be anonymous/not tied to public records regardless if it’s sold in Australia, the USA, etc.
In the USA you can buy over the counter screening kits for a number of illnesses and situations – HIV, Hepatitis C, DNA paternity checks, cholesterol, and others. You do a finger prick or swab your cheek depending on the test, and send them the kit, and they have the results for you in a week or so. It’s all 100% anonymous and when you call or go to their website for results, you are identified by number. They never ever take your name or have you write it on the kit, it’s all done with that anonymous number. From what I understand, if your result is positive, they will give you some resources for help, and you can always print a copy of your results if you need or want them, but they never report the results to anyone or any health authority (they don’t even have your name, again!).
They have other home test kits that just give you results on the spot- there’s one for fecal occult blood, and there are others for drugs, strep throat, mono, hormone levels, etc. All totally legal to buy and use and completely private.
I would hope that the Delphi Screener could be handled that way.
Diane, I hope so too…
I’m amazed the Delphi Screener might be available in this country, although they’ll probably keep it very quiet. (I don’t think distribution rights have been finalized yet)
I’d also be concerned that Papscreen might try to access information/results and harass women into pap tests….use it to flush out the renegades.
I wouldn’t put anything past them…
Women should double check their details and results are safe/confidential….get it in writing.
Diane, I very much hope that HPV self-test will be truly anonymous, just like you described the other tests.
But unfortunately I don’t have much hope for the Australian Medical Big Brother. So far, for example, fecal occult blood test kit is tied to Medicare here in Australia, and, of course, all the patient’s personal details and the test results are passed to Medicare database and disclosed to who-knows-whom from there. After catching Australian Medicare on disclosing my personal details to another government department, which, in turn, passed them to a foreign research company I won’t trust them ever again in my life.
They all promise “security and confidentiality”. However, there is always too much fine print, if-s and but-s in those promises. Which means that the only 100% reliable way to protect your private details is to not disclose them at all. The only company I would trust with my medical information would be the one who won’t ask my name, address, bank card, Medicare card or any other identifying information at any point.
Yes, t is true, Al. If they think it’s ”good” for them, they want it to be ”good” for others. How disgusting it is.
Just one thing has come to my mind. In Poland, all workers of all sectors have so called medical examinations of work medicine. They are every 3,4,5 years (Iit depends on the conditions of work) and they involve: chest x-ray, blood test, now also eye test and, in case of teachers – larynx examination (a very unpleasant one). I remember – it was something like 1998-1999 when suddenly the ministry of health in the region I lived in made pap smear for techers (I have no idea if it was for other sectors of work – I don’t think so, and definitely it wasn’t all over the country, but just in our region – a ”health” program (
– an ironic smile). Then, I didn’t have children and my friend and I called the clinic protesting against it and the nurse asked us if we have children and we said NO so she told us not to get stressed as we will not have it. So, I answered that even if my friend and I had children, we wouldn’t undergo such a humiliating procedure. She said ”ok” and our telephone conversation was over. Anyway, my older colleagues (not too much older than me) went for the pap smear like a flock of sheep with no protests! One of my colleagues, told me: ”Wow, it’s not painful, hahaha – be a modern woman” – can you imagine that!? I’ll never forget her stupid smile and words. Well, mentality is crucial here and if we don’t change it, we won’t do even a little in the matter – whether it is Europe or Asia. But I strongly believe that if more and more women all over the world know this blog, they can tell their stories, opinions and fears and then we can do something about it.
Cheers
Hi Everyone
Please, read this: A Tale of Chinese Hospital Horror (it is about compulsory gynaecological exams of women in China – horrible!): http://www.theworldofchinese.com/2013/03/a-tale-of-chinese-hospital-horror/
Interesting article, thanks Jola. I few things were quite striking:
“Whenever I am in Australia, I go for a full check-up, gynecological exam and complete blood panel.”
– That’s something I will never understand and will never support. Why does this woman have gyn exam alongside with hear overall check-up? What’s so special about her genitals? Why not heart exam, lung exam, brain exam, bowel exam, joints exam, eye exam, liver exam, kidney exam or anything else? This approach hurts all of as in the long run. Because for as long as we have millions of such brainwashed women on this planet who think that their genitals require extra special medical attention, we will have ob/gyns ruling our lives, we will be coerced into pap smears and pelvic exams at every doctor visit, and we will have a completely different degree of respect for patients between men’s and women’s health care.
“I saw that one nurse was not wearing gloves at all and the second had torn hers — hanging from the wrist as she used her bare fingers.”
– I saw an Australian doctor putting his fingers into a patient’s bleeding open wound without gloves on or even washing his hands! After that, all the attempts to complain about this malpractice to Australian medical authorities ended up with nothing: the medical bureaucrats were only pointing fingers at each other. If Australia allows that, what to expect of China?
“Their goal is not to ensure health; it is to be able to keep records of who is married, who is sexually active, who is pregnant and other personal information.”
– Considering the lack of anonymous health care services, Australian medical system clearly doesn’t want to be far behind China. Patients’ medical records are much easier disclosed to the government authorities than to the patients themselves.
“It was explained to me by the principal and nurse of my school that when teachers sit on the same chair as children they can pass any STDs they have to the children.”
– If that was true, we all would have a whole bunch of STDs after just one trip in public transport! One truly has to graduate from a medical school to come up with a stupid explanation like this!
Thanks Al
Yes, when I was reading it, I wanted to stop cause it was disgusting. It is depressing too and I am so sorry that such downright humiliation happens to women. And as for the author who writes: “Whenever I am in Australia, I go for a full check-up, gynecological exam and complete blood panel.” – it is absolutely the same as millions of Polish women in Poland do. To them we are unreasonable because we ”don’t care about our female things”. I wonder how many generations must pass so that this brainwashing can disappear forever.
I recommend you have a look at http://womenagainststirrups.proboards.com/ and especially at this: http://womenagainststirrups.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=questionnaire&action=display&thread=38
All women should know it and after reading it they should think if it is really worth going to a gyno for another visit to check if they are ”healthy”.
Cheers
It sounds a lot like what Romania did during the 1970s and 1980s:
http://www.prochoiceforum.org.uk/psy_ocr9.php
Let me tell you my own story: I will never forget my first imposed gynecological exam in high school in 1970. They made us girls stand in a row and go into the one-room medical office to be checked by a male ob/gyn. The purpose, they told us, was to get some kind of medical document necessary to enroll for high school graduation and university entrance examinations. How come the boys didn’t need it, we were wondering in vain? I remember some girls were offended, some ashamed, but all of us were afraid.
++++
Ten years later, in 1984, the year of the Mexico City conference and policy, seeing that its demographic policies had been ineffective, the government of Romania began a new campaign to increase the birth rate and restrict abortion. In practice this meant that women of reproductive age were required to undergo regular gynaecological examinations at their place of employment. Pregnant women were monitored until delivery, doctors were required to report all women who became pregnant and gynaecological wards were under continuous surveillance. A special tax was enforced on unmarried persons over 25 years of age, as well as on childless couples that did not have a medical reason for being childless: the so-called “celibacy tax”. Furthermore, investigations were carried out to determine the cause of all miscarriages.
The author and other Romanian women who went through that hell will always remember that horror.
Isn’t it frightening that so many women believe they need a gynecologist to tell them they’re asymptomatic body is healthy? So sad that many women have lost trust in their healthy body and permit unnecessary exams and tests that expose them to awful risk.
One one forum a woman was delighted with her gynecologist even though she had very little cervix left, her first cone biopsy had been at the tender age of 20….yet we let doctors get away with this abuse…and even thank them for it.
It just goes to show the power of the medical profession, vested interests, some high profile women’s groups…all fueling the notion that our healthy bodies are quietly trying to kill us.
I do blame some women’s groups, they were apparently fighting for the right of every woman to have access to a free pap test every 2-3 years…yet that was turned into an oppressive regime of demands, coercion, awful over-screening and over-treatment; a total over-riding of the legal rights of individual women. I think they walked us into the fire.
Women’s healthcare took a major step backwards the day these programs were set up, in most countries anyway…
I should have said pushed, tricked, pressured and coerced us into the fire, there was never anything as calm as walking.
Diane, that is sick and sexist. I cant belive they got away with pushing that for collage interance. I woander if any of the mothers didnt make a complant.