In response to significant backlash over their ongoing breast cancer awareness campaign, the YouWeCan foundation has stood by its “Check your oranges” ad. The non-profit, founded by Yuvraj Singh in 2012, issued a statement on Wednesday defending the phrase as a “bold creative choice.”
The controversy began when Dr. Jaison Philip, a Chennai-based urologist and breast surgeon, criticized the campaign on social media, accusing it of “sexualising” and trivializing breast cancer, the most common cancer among Indian women. His post quickly went viral, with numerous celebrities and journalists also weighing in on the issues with the YouWeCan ad, which first appeared on the Delhi Metro.
Yuvraj Singh Foundation that compared breasts to oranges in their viral ‘check your oranges’ breast cancer awareness campaign, responded to a LinkedIn post of mine saying it was a “bold creative choice”. I disagreed.https://t.co/ec7JJ3M2a2 pic.twitter.com/lCNlEoaxgu
— Rituparna Chatterjee (@MasalaBai) October 23, 2024
Rituparna Chatterjee, Deputy Asia Editor for The Independent, expressed on LinkedIn that the hesitation to use the word “breast” directly prevents necessary conversations. Singh’s foundation, however, maintained that the phrase “Check your oranges once a month,” referring to self-examinations, was intended to spark discussions about breast cancer.
“At YouWeCan, we know firsthand how difficult it is to get people to talk openly about breast cancer,” the foundation said. “It’s a topic that many avoid unless it affects them or someone close to them.”
They continued, “Our use of oranges in the campaign was a bold creative choice, carefully thought through, with the goal of breaking the silence surrounding breast cancer. We would never use creative strategies to ridicule or diminish a cause that is so close to our hearts.”
Chatterjee, however, remains unconvinced. “When a roomful of women are telling you that your campaign is making them uncomfortable, kindly listen, acknowledge, and pledge to do better,” she said. She added that women are often “mansplained” or spoken over, especially regarding matters related to their bodies. Comparing the use of oranges to “boys’ locker-room talk,” she noted, “It took us years to find the vocabulary, courage, and awareness to speak up on many things related to wellness, for example, periods. Many of us campaigned against the ridiculous blue ink they showed to signify period blood on TV. Women need to use words and visuals to speak clearly about their conditions.”
Singer Chinmayi Sripada, another vocal critic, emphasized the need for accurate terminology, particularly when teaching children about their bodies to help them report abuse. “It takes years of sensitization and awareness to get parents to not give nicknames for genitalia/private parts. And a tone-deaf dingbat foofoo decided to say ‘oranges’ when he meant breasts for an awareness campaign targeted at women,” she wrote.
