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Men can get
Breast Cancer, too: Students launch Alliance
to raise awareness among both Genders
Newswise — Even men can get breast cancer.
That’s the message a non-profit organization
formed by a group of Florida State
University students and their instructor
wants people to know.
The Alliance for Breast Cancer Awareness in
Women & Men is the result of the work of
graduate students in two communication
classes taught by William J.P. Smith Jr., an
adjunct instructor in the College of
Communication and Information, who is
himself a breast cancer survivor.
The founders want the alliance to be a
resource for others who want to educate the
public that breast cancer is a disease that
crosses gender lines.
The alliance is designed to be an
information conduit as well as a provider of
marketing and support services.
“Only one-half to 1 percent of those
diagnosed with breast cancer annually in the
United States are males.
This is one of the reasons it’s perceived as
a ‘women’s disease,’ “ Smith said.
“However, an oncologist in Tallahassee said
that figure could be between 10 and 12
percent if men were regularly checked by
their doctors, and an oncologist in Los
Angeles said it could be as high as 20
percent.”
Globally, the percentage is even higher.
Research abroad showed the percentage of
breast cancer diagnoses for men at 15
percent in Zambia and 6 percent in Egypt and
Tanzania, Smith said.
Smith, a 1956 FSU graduate who moved back to
Tallahassee almost three years ago after a
lengthy career in advertising and public
relations, was diagnosed with breast cancer
in the mid-1990s.
It was two students in his Account Planning
class, which has a heavy focus on consumer
research, who first questioned whether any
research had been done on the differences
between men and women in attitudes and
awareness of breast cancer. Mark Owens and
Bryan Schulis wanted to know how men
perceive breast cancer.
“We wondered what Mr. Smith did after his
surgery, as it was our understanding that
most men withdraw,” Owens said.
“It turns out he became active in supporting
efforts to raise money for women. But we
wondered about the general public’s
attitudes and whether the percentage of men
diagnosed was too insignificant to make
promoting male breast cancer awareness
worthwhile.”
Smith divided the class into four teams of
six students, who conducted focus groups,
interviews and Internet as well as personal
questionnaires. More than 600 people
participated.
The students concluded an awareness campaign
for men would yield positive results for
both men and women by bringing more
attention, and possibly more dollars, to the
cause.
Key to its success would be including both
genders in the campaign and not simply
targeting men.
It also could save lives. Male breast cancer
is usually late-stage when diagnosed, Smith
said, because doctors don’t routinely screen
for it.
Although the diagnosis rate likely would
rise if men started getting checked for
breast cancer regularly, the survival rate
could also be expected to increase.
Once the Account Planning class had
completed its research and advocated
creation of the alliance, Smith handed off
the results to another one of his classes,
Foundations of Integrated Marketing
Communication.
Students in that class created a strategic
marketing plan and branding campaign for it.
Smith and a group of students have formed a
steering committee to conduct additional
research in the medical community and try to
launch their classroom project as a public
service.
“We want to create a dialogue and ground
swell of awareness among the most important
people in the target group: females, males,
doctors, support groups, foundations and
other interested parties,” Smith said.
“From this will emerge an ambassador,
partners and sponsors. The alliance will
assist any organization that wants to create
a marketing thrust for both women and men
through integrated marketing communications
tactics, at cost.”
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