Welcome to UBC Blogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Original Advertisement

When I first saw this advertisement I was immediately stunned. Who is the young man? Why does he think that I do not know how to check my own breast? Is he medically trained? If so, why would they place him on this ad shirtless? Those are just some of my many questions. When I see a shirtless, attractive man asking about my breasts and saying they can help, I feel sexualized. This does not encourage me to go and receive frequent mammograms or learn about how to examine my own breast in order to increase my odds should I ever develop breast cancer. The intention of this ad was to bring awareness to the importance of knowing one’s own body, specifically breast, and catch the eye of females by placing a famous individual in a sexualizing manner as the presenter. It definitely did what it intended. It caught my eye, but, not in a positive and supportive manner. It made me angry and frustrated that some famous man may think that he may know my body better than I do and is qualified to examine me or “help” me. And even if he is qualified and well-intentioned, a woman’s breasts have been objectified and sexualized for centuries, so it is unsympathetic to advertise for breast health in this manner. This is not the way to approach educating women about the importance of mammograms or regular check-ups and can even be discouraging to some.

“Jammed” Advertisement

This alteration to the advertisement is not a “correction” per se, but is meant to bluntly show how the original ad is perceived. “Think you know your body? Think again.” The statement written makes the targeted audience feel small and uneducated about a part of them that they should know intimately. It is snarky and backed by a public figure that is idolized. While the original ad did not use this tone, this is what it meant. There is, once again, a man telling a woman that she does not know enough and must be taught and it should be by a man. The purpose of this Jamming was not to alter the original message, but to highlight its absurdity. This was done by re-writing the message written upon the poster in a way that more directly described the issues with the original ad. The new message invokes the same frustration as the original, but it does not try to play coy. The thought that a man touching the breasts of a woman is removed as to not distract from the fact that, once again, a man is telling a woman that they know better. They know better about the world, but also they know better about the one thing that no one should be able to take away from them, their body. It is another way of asserting male dominance.