The Irish Cancer Society’s new message, We Won’t Give Up Until Cancer Does, reflects changing attitudes towards the disease, the charity says.

The “cost-effective” multimedia advertising campaign, launched this week ahead of Daffodil Day on March 28th, includes a television ad that the organisation says “seeks to capture some of the positivity and optimism that can now be part of a cancer journey”.

The intention is to strike a tone that is both "hopeful and defiant", says Irish Cancer Society communications manager Gráinne O'Rourke. "It's kind of an 'up yours' to cancer."

While incidence rates are on the increase, so too are survival and prevention rates, she says.

The Irish charity's "bold new belief statement" is certainly less controversial than a recent campaign by UK group Pancreatic Cancer Action that sought to highlight the low survival rates for pancreatic cancer by featuring real patients saying "I wish I had breast cancer" or "I wish I had testicular cancer".

100 complaints
The campaign was accused of insensitivity and promoting "cancer envy", and has been the subject of more than 100 complaints.

O’Rourke says the Irish Cancer Society will “stay away from scare tactics” in its messages.

The television element of its new campaign – created by the agency Chemistry and produced by Russell Curran Productions – was made on a tight budget over a two-day shoot, she adds.

“Advertising these days tends to be ‘let’s go to the Tropics for a week’. We went to Santry in the rain.”