Public Health Gets SEXY -- The LACE Crusade!

In 2009, we teamed up with BC Cancer Agency's Cervical Cancer Screening Program to promote Pap testing to young women aged 19 to 30 years old, an audience that was seeing a decline in screening rates. We recruited eight young women to help create the grassroots campaign and also get the message out that women should be getting tested regularly after they become sexually active.

Together we came up with the idea for the LACE campaign and its symbol, a ribbon of lace (any size, any colour), tied on the finger as a reminder to women to get their Pap test.

Their message: Live Aware. Create Empowerment. LACE.

With their input, LACE Campaign took on a sexy edge with manicured fingernails showing off the lace ribbon, and a bit of glam thrown in all around. These lovely ladies appeared in a full-page ad in Elle magazine and also a 30-second TV PSA that aired in the spring of 2010.

The results were fantastic! Young women around the province joined the campaign, even creating their own LACE materials and displays. More than 120 clinics signed up to participate, and many women got their first Pap ever thanks to LACE!

It was during Pap Awareness Week 2010 that we realised women of ALL ages were responding to the lace motif and getting their Paps as a result, so we've expanded our focus beyond women in their 20s. We want all women to be healthy and informed about cervical cancer!

In June 2011 we were honoured to receive an award from the BC Medical Association for Excellence in Health Promotion.

In 2011 we wanted to out-do ourselves. We created a Facebook Page, resources for Chinese, South Asian, and First Nations women, and saw even more clinics sign up- 143! Get a full recap of Pap Awareness Week 2011 here.

 

 

LACEcampaign is a project of BC Cancer Agency's Cervical Cancer Screening Program