Eliza Yass

One of the posters taken down.

“I love boobies!”

Wearers of this popular slogan on neon bracelets and t-shirts around the country are not weird and perverted. They are mainstream and committed supporters of Breast Cancer research. These bracelets and t-shirts are created by the “Keep A Breast Foundation”- an organization whose mission is to provide support for young people affected by breast cancer and to educate the public about the disease. Their mantra: “Art. Education. Awareness. Action.”

The Keep A Breast Foundation website explains its reasoning behind the head-turning phrase, “The purpose of Keep A Breast’s ‘I Love Boobies!’ Campaign is to speak to young people in their own voice. We want to reach our target audience in a way that is authentic, inspiring and refreshing, and Pink ribbons often do not resonate with, and are not relevant to, the experiences of people under 30.”

Another organization uses a similar tactic.

The Kelley Rooney Foundation created the phrase “pink with a wink” with the purpose of  “using humor to build breast cancer awareness.” This organization is run by the husband of Kelley Rooney, a victim of breast cancer who passed away on July 11, 2006. The organization also targets people under forty years old by making t-shirts reading “Save 2nd Base.”

These two organizations are among many others, including “Save the Ta-tas,” that use humor to lighten the negativity that surrounds breast cancer and to encourage young people to get involved in fighting the disease.

These cute phrases are helping groups raise money and awareness for the disease. These organizations understand that sometimes it is hard to get young people to listen. Serious subjects like cancer seem miles away from our own lives and we choose to ignore them. It isn’t that we don’t care. It is just harder for us, the younger generation, who are less likely to have troubling experiences under our belts to comprehend such a grim disease. When we see eclectic bracelets and witty t-shirts we become interested and are able to connect better with breast cancer, a risk that seems so far off.

Last Friday, I, along with the rest of the cheerleading team, created posters for the football players to support the “Pink Out”- a football game that raises money for breast cancer research. The posters were hung up in the cafeteria, momentarily. They were taken down before lunch by the administration for containing inappropriate content.

Posters that said, “79 plays to save the hooters” and “Joey wins for the twins” were not making a mockery of the disease. The posters were meant to catch the eyes of students at Staples. The administration unfairly dubbed the posters as inappropriate and disrespectful to those who feel strongly about breast cancer. A bland poster that states “Come support breast cancer” would get far less recognition than a hot-pink and sparkly poster that says “Brian is the breast.”

Students chuckle when they read them and actually consider coming to the Pink game and supporting the cause. The posters were made to encourage the student body to better understand that something so horrific and unfair is actually closer to us then we’d like to think. By coming to the game, students can see the hundreds of people that breast cancer actually affects in our town. Anyone who feels strongly about fighting breast cancer would want as much recognition and support as possible, and the chuckles necessary to boost this support are just an added bonus.