Silent Assassin Campaign

[ang1988]

Hi everyone!
I was just wondering about all of your views on the diabetes silent asssassin campaign that was launched last year? Some of you may remember it as being quite contraversial. Im doing a project on it 4 uni and wanted to know what other people thought of it particluarly those with type 1 children as i assume it was quite upsetting for children to see? Thanks 4 any replies in advance

 

[Caroline Wilson]

I didn't see much of the last SIlent Assasin Campaign, so can't comment.

Good luck with your work, please do come back and tell us all how you get on with your work.

 

[ang1988]

Thanx Caroline , Iv been researching it a fair bit n dont think much of it myself , i no when i saw the adverts last year they made me feel a bit uncomfortable but i guess thats what they were trying to do . thanx 4 the reply 🙂

 

[Sugarbum]

I wasnt keen on the silent assassin campaign, especially when it popped up on the billboard next to my house. There is also a DUK posterboard that seems to (perminantly?) have the other awareness campaign "Measure up" which I am also offended by....perhaps I am too oversensitive?

I know the waistline campaign encompasses an important message, but I think (in MY opinion!) that people take from it that fat people get diabetes and I personally think there are way too many conotations with this disease.

Campaigning is good, raising awareness is again good, but I wonder what market research they do before bringing these things out? Are they testing them on an audience? On a population that has experience of the disease...or do they just bring them out?

I would like to be a teen, or a parent looking at this campaign. Puts a shiver through me actually.

 

[Copepod]

I guess most awareness raising campaigns are aimed at people with NO prior knowledge of diabetes, so upsetting some of us who know all too much is considered acceptable "collateral damage". Actually, the waist tape measure poster isn't saying that all people with excess fat are at risk, just those with excess fat around their middles (as opposed to hips, for example), who really are at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes than others.
A lot of the problem is that Diabetes UK has to represent 2 competely different diseases with very different populations (plus other smaller groups of diabetes - LADA, MODY, gestational, surgically induced etc) - or "phenotypes" as a researcher so delicately put it after seeing a group of type 1s and a group of type 2s in a single conference (not a DUK conference, by the way)