Recent examples of controversial fund-raising attempts include a Barnardo's advert of a baby injecting itself with heroin. The advert also gives out a dangerous message because it defines people by their disease. It says you do not have a job, just a role as a sick person. More than half of our interviewees thought their risk was one in 10 or less. The ad suggests that one in three girls will get cancer, and that is not the case,' said Marteau.
Cancer is primarily a disease of old age, and it affects men as much as women.
More importantly, cancer is not inevitable, as the fund suggests. This advert offers no course of action or help. It simply shocks. The shocking images which make a lasting impression are more usually associated with experiences in our own lives or even with some bigger national event - not a photograph of unknown people,' he said.