Cancer Council

Every good marketer will tell you: it’s all about the packaging. In today’s consumerist society, we’ve come to expect that products however basic and functional must be branded in a way that resonates with us through an appealing and somewhat sexy packaging.

But can we think along the same lines when it comes to cancer? Should we judge the potency of a cancer based on its packaging and what makes some cancers sexier than other? Is this simply because some cancer types benefit from celebrity endorsement and that in turn makes the cause sexy? Or is it because the more common and widespread the cancer is, the more attention it receives from the media and consumers?

Every year we see a wave of support come through for cancer types like leukaemia, melanoma and breast cancer with prolific media coverage and increased public awareness whilst other cancers remain in the background, overshadowed either because they have lower incidence rates or because they occur in parts of the body we shy away from publicising.

Continue reading "Unsexy forms of cancer deserve our attention too" »

According to the Minister for Sport, Kate Lundy’s office, the estimated government funding of sport for 2011/2012 is estimated to be $348.1million. 

Those funds are dispersed through various avenues including grass roots to elite level, anti doping deterrence and education programs for athletes.

Meanwhile according to the Cancer Council of New South Wales, the overall government funding of cancer research in 2011 was $159 million nationally with a further $56million from the Cancer Institute in New South Wales.

Continue reading "Sport helped me fight cancer" »

When Cancer Council Australia published its recent estimate of the number of cancer cases in Australia linked to alcohol consumption, we didn’t expect the message to be popular.

But we have a responsibility to provide independent, evidence-based information about cancer risk, enabling Australians to make informed choices.

Many people may not want to know that something as popular as alcohol consumption increases their cancer risk – but that’s what the evidence says. And we believe everyone has a right to know about that evidence, whether it’s a “good news” story or not.

Continue reading "We don’t make stuff up, alcohol is a proven killer" »

Plain packaging of tobacco products has great potential to reduce the appeal of smoking, particularly among young people, and should be supported if Australians want to see death and disease from tobacco use continue to decline.

Simple, really. But unfortunately the facts have been difficult to read amid the smoke and mirrors, sound and fury. So consider this:

Fact: Glossy, stylised cigarette packets are a valuable marketing tool for attracting new smokers. This has been shown in Cancer Council research and dozens of other Australian and international studies, not to mention documents obtained from tobacco companies.

Continue reading "A few plain facts amid the smoke and mirrors" »

Today we would be shocked if cigarette and alcohol companies targeted their advertising to children.

We would be shocked because the evidence is there to support such outrage. We know that tobacco kills and that alcohol consumption can have grave short-term and long-term health consequences.

So shouldn’t we be equally shocked when our children are targeted for junk food marketing? The evidence is there.

Continue reading "Keep junk food away from our kids" »