Now that Pink October is over, will any of the health campaigns we’ve witnessed over the past weeks bear fruit? And can an artistic approach lead to a longer-lasting effect? Using one particular campaign as case-study, Kristina Chetcuti finds out more.

You can’t have missed them during these past four weeks. Blown-up photos of people ‘wearing’ a digital bright pink bra on top of a white shirt, smiling at you as you drive past bus shelters all over Malta.

I’m hooked. Since the beginning of October I’ve been slowing my driving pace, always on the lookout to see if I know anyone of these pink bra people (I’ve spotted three acquaintances so far).

It’s a breast cancer campaign which doesn’t make me want to quickly look away or think of something else: instead, looking at the no-frills photos of people with a cheeky bit of fun added to them, actually makes the reality of cancer fine to contemplate.

“This is not exactly about breast cancer awareness, but more a drawing of attention to it,” said Steve Cassar, director at Visual Trends, one of the creatives behind the campaign, which was sponsored by Nestlé Fitness.

It is an unusual campaign in that there are no people off the telly, no celebrities, no high profile people, it’s the just people-next-door. And it’s also highly artistic: Zvezdan Reljic, one of the most sought-after photographers and designers on the island was roped in.

“Our idea was to work with the arts to support a good cause by means of advertising,” Steve said. “There are so many messages out there that we felt going down the artistic route is a way of standing out.”

An unusual side to the campaign is that it features both men and women. “First off, there are also men who get breast cancer. But, besides that, breast cancer is a family issue,” said Steve. “Everyone is hit when someone in the family has breast cancer: the children, the husband, the parents, sisters, brothers, grandparents. It does not only affect the person with cancer,” he said. He speaks from personal experience: a family member of his suffered the illness a few years ago.

“In this campaign we wanted to tell stories of people. But we wanted to do it in a light-hearted way, so that it becomes okay to talk about it,” he said, pointing out that we still live in a society where it’s still almost a taboo to say the word ‘breast’. “We feel we have to apologise if we use the word – we still don’t feel comfortable enough to discuss these issues,” he said.

Zvezdan Reljic at work.

For the artistic campaign they needed one hundred people. Would they find 100 volunteers to have their faces on the bus shelter for a whole month? They were unsure. But word got round fast and soon they were inundated with calls from people wanting to help.

“The response was overwhelming. Within barely two days, we had our 100 … and many more on a waiting list,” Steve said.

“It was a surprise –some of the people who wanted to do it are really shy and introvert,” said Melania Calleja Pellicano, group product manager at Nestlé Fitness, who are sponsoring the campaign.

He lets the eyes of people do the talking. There’s no make-up, it’s very raw and bare

“But they were doing it because they had somehow, in one way or other, been hit by cancer.”

Each photo on the bus shelters transmits a story. To convey this, the photographer used a 35mm film to take the photos of each of the hundred people over three days. Then, he hand developed and hand printed a 10” by 8” print of each. In the dark room, each photo took about an hour to develop. Using digital print would have cut down their work by some three weeks – but this was not considered.

“Zvezdan brings the essence of raw photography, because he believes it captures the true character of people. He lets the eyes of people do the talking. There’s no make-up, it’s very raw and bare. It’s about people and their stories,” Steve explains.

The campaign was not about models, but about real people.

All the people featured are, in fact, wearing a plain white shirt. “It’s not about what you’re wearing; it’s about who you are and what you’re trying to say. We like the hidden story behind the story,” he said.

It’s not about models, it’s about real people, he continued, because cancer is not elitist. Campaign participants are going round the bus shelters and snapping photos of themselves next to their blown-up image with the pink bra and then sharing it on Facebook. For every share with the #CheckYourselfMalta hashtag, Nestlé are pledging a donation to Europa Donna Malta for research and training of carers.

“We hope this campaign will make people check themselves. It’s also another step in getting people to talk about it. To think ‘that could be me’. Or, ‘I have to remind my wife/girlfriend’.

The campaign ran till the end of October – will its message last beyond that? “If we could get two or three people to go and check themselves and not put it off – that would be more than enough,” Steve concluded.

The Bracam video

What happens when you stick a camera to a bra? Ta Da! You get the bracam video. As part of the social media campaign to raise awareness about the importance of regular check-ups to help prevent breast cancer, actress Abigail Azzopardi was kitted with a pink bra and a spy camera (and a jacket on top, not to worry).

She then walked down a few busy streets and did a spot of shopping, capturing people’s reactions as she walked by. An on-screen counter keeps record of the number of times that her pink bra is ‘checked out’ by passer-bys.

After all, your body is regularly ‘checked out’ by passers-by, so why not have your breasts checked out properly for prevention or early detection of breast cancer?

The message is simple: remember that the best way to prevent breast cancer is to check yourself regularly. Self-check ups can be done at home, followed by check-ups by medical practitioners.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN7uLtaGQAw