Our work with Spinneys Supermarkets,
American University of Beirut Medical Centre,
and the Lebanese Breast Cancer Foundation.
Breaking cultural taboos to encourage women’s health and cancer screenings.
Insight.
In Lebanon, breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women, but studies show that 96-98% of cancer cases can be cured if detected early.
However, local tradition prevents women from openly discussing their bodies; most women shy away from the mere mention of breasts and are not educated on why or how to perform a self-check.
The Lebanese Breast Cancer Foundation needed to break through these cultural barriers with a solution tailored to their traditions while educating women on the importance of self-checks.
To combat this cultural taboo, we used a different culture and tradition to educate Lebanese women on how to perform a self-check breast exam -- through the act of baking bread. We had an influential traditional baker work with a gynecologist to create a dough-kneading method with gestures indicative of a breast self-exam.
This tactic allowed the tutorial to spread openly on social media. We asked women in Lebanon if they “baked bread this month” and encouraged them to perform a breast self-exam based on the bread-baking steps. We raised awareness and spread educational tools in a way that made everyone comfortable yet changed their daily lives in a successful way.
Case study.
“Around a quarter of breast cancer cases are preventable in the UK. The Muslim community in the UK have lower rates of breast screening than average. Ethnic minority communities also have a poorer rate of survival. ‘The Bread Exam’ is an innovative tool to help address these inequalities and help save lives.”
General Secretary
British Islamic Medical Association
Salman Waqar
“In order to reach women facing this situation in the Middle East, we decided to use baking bread as a euphemism and talk to women about baking bread instead of talking about breasts, self-examination or cancer.”
Vice-President
Lebanese Breast Cancer Foundation
Mirna Hobballah
“We created ‘The Bread Exam’ to give women a tool to visually demonstrate how they should check their breasts for new or unusual changes. I hope ‘The Bread Exam’ provides some reassurance and shows the simplicity of self-checking.”
Dr. Saliha Mahmood Ahmed
“This campaign is a perfect example of resilience and collaboration. It was years in the making and wouldn’t have happened without the joint effort of our Paris, Dubai, Germany, and London offices and, and our Weber Shandwick partner in Paris, Turkey, and London.”
Global Executive Creative Director
CCO Europe
Adrian Botan
“We wanted to circumvent a cultural taboo and compensate for the lack of support from current institutions, during these challenging times, and provide a way for women to perform a self-examination.”
Executive Creative Directors
McCann Paris
Cedric Astrella & Sebastien Boutebel
