41. I have a beef with Macmillan

Macmillan offers an amazing support service but what on earth are they thinking about with their TV advertising?? The current one, ‘Cancer doesn’t care...’ is so alarmist. It doesn’t tell us anything people don’t already fear or know. It definitely reinforces the fear element. Yes, cancer is a terrible disease for many people and the treatment is beyond awful and it’s important to know Macmillan is there to offer so much support in so many ways. But this ad makes me angry. It feeds on fear.

I complained about their previous advertisement which showed vomiting - pointed out this was a common phobia and was insensitive and unnecessary (they didn’t show the reality of people having diarrhoea, after all).

https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/macmillan-ad-ninth-most-complained-about-of-2017.html

I got a reply justifying their ad on the grounds of their consumer research - just so happened it was a reply to someone else’s email about the same thing! They claimed their research audience thought it was realistic and authentic. That doesn’t stop it being a living nightmare for emetophobes like me. Nor does it make it essential to portraying the disease. Apparently it was one of the most complained advertisements of 2017-18.

I don’t expect upmarket or twee tampon/Tena-like adverts. I know they depend heavily on people making donations and that’s their objective. But I wonder if they should reconsider the advertising company they use and their prospective audience - cancer is dark enough without seeing it on tv daily, reinforcing fear. We know it’s bad - it doesn’t make Macmillan look any more effective to rub it in. And there are people like me who are lucky enough to be able to see it as ‘only a disease.’ It’s not a death sentence necessarily.

I don’t think I’m unduly sensitive. There must be better ways of advertising something so awful. OK, the short ads where they get good news are a bit galling for someone like me - but I wouldn’t want to push my experience onto other people. I don’t want to hide the truth but there are different realities for different people.