New Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign

Super heroes have been lending their powers, attributes, and beauty to various products over the years and they have most definitely infiltrated the world of movies and imagination. Now, however, they've found a new cause: breast cancer. In Mozambique, artist Maisa Chaves (in conjunction with the Public Health Office and DDB) created these illustrations that allude to the copyrighted DC and Marvel heroines, being extremely careful to leave their faces out to avoid being sued. The women are portrayed mid breast-exam, checking for lumps over their superhero garb, it includes the infamous Storm, strong She-Hulk, mysterious Wonder Woman, and feline Catwoman.

Some believe that these ads are making light of the serious situation of breast cancer, but I am of the opposite mind. I think the artist knew right off the bat that these are iconic figures and their performing monthly breast exams proves that nobody is 'too super' for cancer and we should all be checked. The ads all have a caption that says "When we talk about breast cancer, there's no women or superwomen. Everybody has to do the self-examination monthly. Fight with us against this enemy and, when in doubt, talk with your doctor". Surely, this makes sense and rather than portraying graphic ads with women's exposed breasts having bugs crawl under them, this is an eye-catching and meaningful way of showing that we all must fight towards a common goal, starting with personal prevention. Kudos to Mozambique for such an original ad display that not only hits home to older women because of its message, but also to those of us who are younger and may be comic book fans. This ad has a target demographic that is larger than previously grotesque and gruesome shock-value ads, it is tastefully done and beautiful to look at, while the message lingers in your mind long afterwards.