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<\/a>\nAttention getting: Aliya-Jasmine Sovani in the hit cancer-awareness viral video Save the Boobs<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Sovani says people like breasts and are used to seeing them in advertising, but there\u2019s a huge disconnect between those breasts and the breasts affected by cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis video was really just supposed to shock you into realizing that the breasts in breast cancer are the same ones that you appreciate or you look at or you have,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
The Save the Boobs<\/em> video was a viral hit, spreading quickly across the Internet. Sovani, who came up with the idea and wrote it, says she wanted it to be fun and sexy, something that people would open on their computers and watch. And people certainly did.<\/p>\n The video was viewed online hundreds of thousands of times and was picked up by the news media. In the end, it reached many people who weren\u2019t on the Internet.<\/p>\n \u201cThis thing was all over the place,\u201d says Tom Megginson, a creative director at Acart Communications in Ottawa. According to Megginson, viral marketing is about being bold and breaking boundaries, which this video achieved in order to reach young viewers.<\/p>\n The video was a promotional tool to sell tickets to a Toronto breast cancer fundraiser called the Boobyball, which Sovani co-chaired this year. It was sensationally effective, helping to sell out all 1,100 tickets.<\/p>\n The video is an example of the creative tools now being used to direct young people\u2019s attention to the breast cancer cause. The idea is to raise young women’s awareness that breast cancer can affect them, too, says Sovani.<\/p>\n Appealing to a younger crowd People today in the breast cancer awareness field are trying to appeal to younger audiences through three strategies: viral marketing (whereby a marketing message passes from user to user via Internet and social media), charity events aimed at people in their 20s and 30s and other programs aimed at young women affected by or concerned about breast cancer.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important that young women be aware of breast-health messages, because while most women who get breast cancer are older, 23 per cent of all cases are women under 50.<\/p>\n It is the most common cancer to affect women, says Marisa Weiss, a breast oncologist and breast-health author.<\/p>\n Therefore it\u2019s important that women do all they can to reduce their risk of getting it, says Weiss. If they do get it, it\u2019s important they find out this fact as early as possible, she adds.<\/p>\n Twenty-three per cent of all breast cancer cases are women under 50. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYoung women have the greatest opportunity to prevent breast cancer if they start breast-health practices at a young age,\u201d says Weiss. \u201cSo there\u2019s a great opportunity to reduce the devastation of this disease.\u201d<\/p>\n Weiss says this means young women should not smoke and should stick to a healthy weight, limit their alcohol intake, exercise three to four hours a week and avoid hormones in their food.<\/p>\n Also, young women can self-examine their breasts on a regular basis, looking for lumps or other abnormalities, and notify their doctors of any changes, says Weiss. By starting this at a younger age, women will develop a better sense of what\u2019s normal and what\u2019s not.<\/p>\n Partying with a purpose<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s important that such breast-health messages get through to young women. Hence the need for events like the Boobyball, which get younger people involved and raise consciousness among younger women.<\/p>\n
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