#PancreasNotPenis Our bold new campaign
Today, on World Pancreatic Cancer Day, Pancreatic Cancer Action have launched a bold campaign; ‘This isn’t what you think it is! #PancreasNotPenis’ after a survey revealed that almost a quarter of the UK incorrectly identified the pancreas as a penis.
We are launching the #PancreasNotPenis campaign at London Waterloo station with a giant 5m x 3m inflatable pancreas, talking to the public and sharing pancreatic cancer symptom information. Our aim is to raise raise awareness, and increase early diagnosis, of pancreatic cancer: the UKs fifth biggest cancer killer.
**We are also at Kings Cross station and Liverpool Street**
Lu Constable, PCA Marketing and Communications Manager, says:
“After hearing anecdotally, on many occasions, people confusing these two organs we conducted a national survey to find out how many people knew about the pancreas.”
Our survey found that 44% of the UK identified the pancreas as either a penis, a kidney or a lung. Compared with 95% of people correctly identifying the heart and 98% of people being able to identify a lung.
What’s more, the survey shows that almost 40% of people do not know the function of the pancreas and over 43% do not know where it is in the body.
“The survey results confirmed that we need to raise awareness of the pancreas and most importantly, what to look out for when something goes wrong with it.
We are hoping that this bold campaign will grab the public’s attention, create conversation and raise much needed awareness of pancreatic cancer, the UKs 5th biggest cancer killer.”
CEO of Pancreatic Cancer Action, Ali Stunt, founded the charity following her own diagnosis of the disease, age 41. Ali, now a rare 12-year survivor, explains the thought process behind the campaign:
“We know that the UK suffers from a chronic lack of awareness of pancreatic cancer, our recent survey tells us that 69% of the UK know nothing about the disease.
One of our biggest challenges when it comes to pancreatic cancer awareness, lies with the pancreas itself. It is not an organ that we know much about, or think of day to day, and it is not immediately clear when something is wrong with it.
We are therefore raising awareness of the pancreas and highlighting the symptoms to look out for when something is wrong with it. We are hoping that this will encourage people to think ‘Could this be my pancreas?’ when experiencing these ‘vague’ symptoms.”
Find out more
Visit our #PancreasNotPenis page to find out more about the pancreas, pancreatic cancer and symptoms to look out for.
Contact us
If you would like to contact us to give feedback on the campaign, you can get in touch here.