• by Larissa Faw , April 20, 2016

MACMA, a Breast Cancer Help Movement in Argentina is introducing a campaign that challenges breast censorship when it comes to showing women's breasts to talk about breast cancer prevention. 

Developed pro-bono by agency David Buenos Aires, the initiative points out how it's okay to show a man's boobs to talk about self-prevention, but that it's not okay to show a woman's boobs -- a unique Argentinian take on a serious matter. 

"It's hard to get women over 25 to examine their breasts regularly to prevent breast cancer," stated GCD Joaquin Cubria and VP Ignacio Ferioli, David Buenos Aires. "But it isn't hard to make them check their phones every 5 minutes. So that's how we decided to get to them. But that's when we bumped into another problem: breasts aren't very welcome, they're censored. Even when teaching how to perform a breast self-exam (BSE) for the early detection of breast cancer." 

Launched across social media, people text #tetasxtetas or #manboobs4boobs to  encourage more conversation about BSE. "That's where 'manboobs4boobs' comes in. A health-related campaign that requires men to partake in order to succeed," the agency execs stated. The campaign also includes messages on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

The initiative seeks to overcome two barriers: One, to raise awareness on a growing problem that affects an estimated 18,000 women per year in Argentina. Second, to highlight the need to communicate in a clear and uncensored manner how women must perform BSEs given their importance for early detection.

The campaign has already received a lot of media attention for its controversial concept, and local celebrities and influencers are sharing it simply because they consider it a good message to spread, says the agency. 

The new work is just the latest collaboration between the two organizations. Two years ago, they developed their first social campaign, called "Sign a boob" that raised enough signatures in order to pass a law for the government to designate more spending on education for early cancer detection and patient support. That campaign raised more than two million signatures in 126 countries.