Huge response to Irish Cancer Society ‘Get Cancer’ ad campaign
While the ad generated public controversy over its wording, the society said it only received 100 “direct contacts” in relation to it, 10% of which were positive.
A video uploaded to the society’s Facebook page has been viewed more than 600,000 times. This led to people reaching out to the various support services.
Their Cancer Nurseline saw a 100% increase in calls since Wednesday, compared with the daily average usage of this service.
Most of the queries to the freephone helpline were in relation to screening for cancer, lifestyle factors to reduce cancer risk, and cancer prevention.
Nurses on the line also reported a surge in enquiries from cancer patients who were looking for more information about their cancer diagnosis, information on sid-effects of treatment and those looking for psychological support during and following treatment.
The society also saw a surge in usage to its website.
There was a 280% increase in visits to its Reduce Your Risk page, which informs people about what can be done to lessen their chances of developing cancer.
The website’s page carrying cancer statistics saw an increase of 127% in terms of visits to it.
Their general information and support page also saw a rise in visits of 52%.
The Irish Cancer Society measured the various increases by comparing the statistics of those pages from January 1 to 5 in 2016 and for the same period this week.
This time last year, there was not a similar campaign in operation.
Furthermore, pages carrying information on skin cancer and prostate cancer saw increases in visits of 92% and 49% respectively.
The society’s head of communications Gráinne O’Rourke yesterday acknowledged that the campaign was “provocative” following strong public reaction to the wording, ‘Get Cancer.’
The society received a series of complaints about the campaign but did not disclose the exact figure when asked by the Irish Examiner.
“This high level of public engagement in information and services provided by the Irish Cancer Society shows that ‘I want to Get Cancer’ is having the desired effect: people are beginning to ‘Get Cancer’,” said Ms O’Rourke.
“We know our campaign has been provocative. But thanks to it, conversations about cancer are taking place in homes across the country. People are picking up the phone and going online because they want to Get Cancer by getting informed.”
Ms O’Rourke also stated that the rise in calls to the Cancer Nurseline has made their provocative campaign “worth it”.
“We’re particularly pleased that our Cancer Nurseline nurses are speaking to more and more people as a result of this campaign. We know that one in four cancers can be prevented. If, as a result of ‘I Want to Get Cancer’, even one more person ‘Gets Cancer’ by attending their cancer screening appointment, or making a lifestyle change that reduced their risk of contracting the disease, then it would have been all worth it,” she said.
Approximately 150 people are diagnosed with cancer every [working] day in Ireland — which is 40,000 people per year.
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