CoppaFeel! launches campaign for Muslim women
The Media Plan
Breast cancer charity CoppaFeel! has launched a month-long campaign primarily targeting Muslim women aged between 18 and 24.
Starting on 20 November, the campaign aims to highlight health inequities and encourage Muslim audiences to regularly check their chests for signs of cancer.
CoppaFeel!, the UK’s first and only breast cancer charity for young people, cited research that found Black African and Black Caribbean women were more likely to be diagnosed with stage four breast cancer, and South Asian women had higher odds of being diagnosed with late-stage breast cancers and were therefore at risk of poorer outcomes.
Not only that but women of colour have been shown to have a “lower awareness” of signs and symptoms and are more likely to delay seeking help and may experience further delays post-diagnosis.
The charity’s own research also uncovered “a lack of relevancy” in the South Asian community with two in five (40%) stating that breast cancer is unlikely to affect them in the future.
CoppaFeel! partnered with media company Amaliah which was founded by Muslim women to develop a campaign “tailored to the Muslim community and backed by an authentic voice” as it recognised discussing breast cancer can be more taboo in some religions or cultures.
Phoebe Lazell, equality, diversity and inclusion manager at CoppaFeel! said: “Historically, women of colour have been neglected from conversations around breast health so we worked with Amaliah to create a bespoke, digital-forward campaign that was created alongside and representative of the Muslim community. We want to meet young Muslim
women, and women of colour, where they’re at and dispel the myth that breast cancer is solely a white women’s disease.”
Almost 50% of Muslims in the UK are under 24 years old and the Muslim community make up 6.5% of the population in England and Wales.
Amaliah describes itself as a media company for Muslim women. More than 80% of its audience identify as women of colour and people from minoritised backgrounds, and are primarily within an 18-40 year old age range.
A poll conducted of Amaliah’s audience in the initial stages of campaign development found more than three-quarters (76%) do not regularly check their breasts and most “would love to gain a better insight” into how they’re meant to check (77%). Nearly all of those surveyed (96%) reported that they do not see women of colour represented enough in the media talking about breast cancer.
Breast cancer does not discriminate
In order to reach that younger audience, the campaign focussed on digital with TikTok and Instagram as key social channels.
Amaliah also executed its first outdoor campaign with a digital billboard in Aldgate which was chosen as it was an area that “over-indexed” for the campaign’s target audience.
The social channels spotlighted a series of dedicated videos including vox pops with members of the public at the Aldgate location and interviews with young Muslim women who were dismissed by medical practitioners upon initial consultation to highlight the importance of “knowing your normal” and checking your boobs regularly.
The social content also acknowledged the medical bias and specific barriers that Muslim women face when getting a diagnosis and signposted to CoppaFeel! for resources and advice.
In particular, the billboard messaging and location were chosen to target “a wide group of women of colour” who were more likely to face late-stage diagnosis, negative experiences in cancer care and lower survival rates.
The campaign is set to reach 300 million impressions with the digital making up around 3 million of that total.
It will primarily be measured through reach and impression amongst the target audience, with a secondary measure being conversations inspired in the comments of the social posts.