NZ Girl breast cancer campaign backfires

03 Dec 2010 10:44p.m.

Gravey wrote:

@Christina Gregoire: You are missing a few points about this.

1: There is no up-front commitment to donate the money to a specific charity. Just to the general idea of breast cancer research.

2: It focuses on maintaining the beauty of breasts rather than on saving lives.

3: It is remarkably insensitive to all those women who have had mastectomies. "Get your tits out" to a woman who has lost hers isn't the nicest thing to say.

4: It is targeted at young girls regardless of what the editor says.

5: It encourages women to post photos of themselves without warning them about how they will lose all control over where that photo ends up.

6: It fails to tie in with established breast cancer awareness programmes.

7: It seemed to be an afterthought to actually talk about breast cancer detection, prevention and awareness.

8: Where were they during NZBCF's awareness month in October?

9: They invite people to vote for their favourite tits, and to leave comments. That is extraordinarily tacky.

This is not about not wanting to see bared breasts. I love seeing bare breasts. But this is just plain wrong.

I give them the benefit of doubt, and presume they actually had good intentions. It is just really badly designed and executed.

Your "not that many people in New Zealand and there may be a chance that one girl’s favorite pair may be outed by someone" could also have shown a little more respect to New Zealand.

To say "we are celebrating boobs in all their glory" - what does this say of those who have lost theirs?

What is wrong with us? We have a sense of taste and sensitivity.

03 Dec 2010 07:27p.m.

Jonesy38 wrote:

Growing up in the 1950's I was a "well developed" girl, embarrassed by the attention my breasts received. Never displayed my cleavage, three babies later, and all them grown up,at age 69 I had grown up enough to have some glamour pix taken in my undies (Gift wrapped) Yep! 69 - and both of the best assets by then scarred around the nipples by biopsies. Now (72+)I love to see young women celebrating their breasts, older women proud of their natural worn and aged beauty. Half the population of the world have breasts - the other half are fascinated by them, and owe their early nurture to them. Breast of all shapes and sizes are beautiful, and so are the equivalent male body parts. As I have aged I admire the human body in all its amazing diversity and beauty. The way it moves, supports us and excites us ought to be celebrated. Anything targeting better health and well being ought to be encouraged. Wellness is what we need to celebrate and work toward. Where do I post my age 69 pix?

03 Dec 2010 07:21p.m.

carol wrote:

tv interview....ladies really, your image!
Both talking at the same time .....full stops and comma's are pauses and endings....like menopause, one has to take a breath and also let the other person speak! I know I only have two ears not four!Same as my brain 2 side ,2 boobs, tow legs two arms and tow eyes .....the men go squint anyway. Calendar girls showed much more darlings

03 Dec 2010 12:04p.m.

Mike Meares wrote:

I have been married to my wife for 46 years. She was found to have lobular cancer in February this year. My very special thanks and undying gratitude go to the free breast screening done at the Takapuna clinic and the skills on the people there, at North Shore hospital and Mercy hospital!. If she had been the queen herself she would not have received better treatment!!! She is now over the operation and radiation treatment and is back to her old self. As a husband you must not under-estimate what this means to me!! If this campaign encourages even only one lady to go through the process so that she can spend many more years with her family, then it's done a good job! To those who find it offensive, the answer is simple. Don't look at it. Find something else to occupy yourself with. To those who download it as porn, well, you're scum anyway so you don't count in the scheme of things. With luck you'll come to the attention of the courts one day. Soon, hopefully! To the ladies who had the guts to do this I say "more power to you!" You just may have saved a life!

03 Dec 2010 12:12a.m.

Petra wrote:

To those that think I'm a prude for questioning NZgirl's integrity and intentions, think again. At another site, I railed against those who were disgusted by NZ's Next Top Model contest's photoshoot of topless models painted with mud, and in another shoot body paint. I thought they were beautiful shoots, and both model and photographer should be proud of the photographic and artists merits. Nudity or partial nudity, per se, is not shameful or offensive, imo. It's the context that carries the weight of my opinion here.

02 Dec 2010 11:57p.m.

Rachael Smithson wrote:

This is the cheapest marketing stunt i have ever seen. Media Whores is how you could describe these woman trying to cash in on such a sensitive subject . I have to agree we would never see men flopping out their penis for cancer awareness. And now its a race to see the other companies on facebook and across Media Sites also now trying to jump on this band wagon. Best thing to do is for the Media not to give them any air time ! They got exactly what they were after PUBLICITY !

02 Dec 2010 07:00p.m.

Polly Adams wrote:

You only have to look at the Editor of this magazine to tell she has a screw loose. What on earth was she thinking, brain dead in my opinion. I wonder if she got her kit off, or one breast, would she do it, i doubt it. Polly.

02 Dec 2010 03:25p.m.

Christina Gregoire wrote:

Hi, I'm a 57 y/o writer from Seattle, WA. I love the NZgirl campaign. What is wrong with people in NZ. I took a trip to NZ and OZ and I loved both places.

My husband's first wife died of breast cancer. I wrote an article about the breast cancer campaign. Read it:

http://www.suite101.com/content/breast-baring-website-unveils-cancer-research-fundraising-scheme-a315556

02 Dec 2010 02:07p.m.

angelina wrote:

"Brutus ..good point. I am concerned about testicle cancer, shall I run a web campaign asking men to fash their testi's to raise awareness about this...And Yes what about ovarian cancer...Lets have an awareness campaign about healthy ovaries..so flash those photos about healthy vaginas.
I can bet my last dollar that the bulk of visitors to nzgirls site will not be females, but MALES OUT TO PEEVE. What happens if my well developed 14 and 15 year nieces decided to post their breasts shots on your sites !!

02 Dec 2010 01:52p.m.

angelina wrote:

What utter rubblish. This is not abut raising awareness about breast cancer. it's an exploitaive marketing gimmick by NZ Girl to increase their profile. Shame on those shameless women who run the org!!. If they were sincere about the issue, they would be using their site and mazagine to invite celebrity NZ young women to champion this in a non phorno way...not asking for asking teens to fash their tits to show their support. I have teenage daughters....and they are taught during school nurses visits about breast cancer. They dont need to understand about BC, nor support breast care thru sleazy campaigns such as this.