"Lift your skirt?" For what?

Source: Singapore Cancer Society

I previously blogged about how campaigns on breast cancer and promoting regular check-ups are framed (here and here). In particular, I argued that the Rethink Breast Cancer campaign, whose promotional video went viral because it contained half-naked hot men, promoted heteronormativity,  rugged masculinity and the male gaze.

This recent ad campaign by Singapore Cancer Society promoting free Pap smears for women in Singapore is just another example to add to my list. It was covered by The Stream Al-Jazeera, which collected a variety of responses from social media.

Source: Stomp

In short, the idea behind the sexualised women was catering to the male gaze, suggesting voyeurism and sexual availability of women. This copywriter thinks that puns hardly work in ads, while others thought that it's not a good idea to sexualise ads which carry an important message. 

What word would trigger the Singaporean mindset to pay attention to this ad? For the next campaign, I suggest the following headline:

FREE Pap Smears!

That oughta attract attention and get women to sign up for the free checkups. :)