2008 Bus and Subway Campaign
Awareness Campaign Launched in Four Major Cities Takes Aim at Lung Cancer
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF) launched a four-city advertisement campaign designed to raise awareness about lung cancer, the most under-funded and under-diagnosed but yet deadliest of all cancers, and to urge early detection and screening.
The “Demand a CAT Scan” outdoor advertising campaign consists of a series of 28 advertisements that feature such captions as:
- “Imagine if a fully-loaded 777 fell out of the sky EVERYDAY… That’s how many people die daily of Lung Cancer”
- “CT Scan…Think of it as a mammogram for your lungs”
- “Lung Cancer…The#1 Cancer Killer. It’s not always good to be #1″
- and “Best Picture goes to The CAT SCAN for achievement in detecting Lung Cancer early.”
The advertisements are displayed on 400 MUNI buses and light rails throughout the city of San Francisco, 400 New York City subways, 75 MARTA buses in Atlanta and 360 buses throughout the greater Los Angeles area.
“While we wait for the cure, we must use the early detection imaging and the diagnostic tools we have available right now,” said BJALCF founder and president, Bonnie J. Addario. “This campaign puts everyone on alert: Find Lung Cancer before it finds you. It’s a matter of life or death.”
More than 50 percent of new lung cancer cases will be diagnosed at a very late stage. Because Lung Cancer often spreads beyond the lungs before it causes symptoms, a good screening test to find lung cancer early could save many lives and prolong survival. Other facts about lung cancer:
- Lung Cancer surpassed breast cancer as the number one killer of women in 1987.
- Lung Cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women, accounting for 30 percent of all cancer deaths.
- It kills more people annually than breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, liver cancer, melanoma and kidney cancer combined.
- In the U.S., lung cancer kills 19 people per hour, 450 people a day, and 1.35 million die every year worldwide.
- In 2007 there were more than 213,380 new cases of lung cancer in the United States; with an estimated 162,460 deaths.
- Non smokers can be a target for Lung Cancer as well; 60 percent of lung cancer is now diagnosed in nonsmokers and former smokers.
- About two-thirds of nonsmokers diagnosed with lung cancer are women.
Despite these dire facts, Lung Cancer continues to be under-funded, under-researched and under-diagnosed, even as there is mounting scientific and anecdotal evidence that early detection saves lives. “For every nine dollars spent on breast cancer, one dollar is spent on Lung Cancer in the United States,” said Dr. Douglas Arenberg, BJALCF Board member and Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Health System.
The campaign was sponsored through CBS Outdoor and funded with restricted funds by friends of the Foundation.
