The Variable

Fuck Cancer

"Serious Foreplay" by The Variable for Fuck Cancer takes a bold approach in a space often filled with safe messages and platitudes. Recognizing that skin cancer is the most common cancer in the U.S. and that melanoma is 98% curable when detected early, we set out to create a campaign that stood out from the noise. Inspired by a real-life experience from one of our writers, we developed a provocative campaign that urged couples to incorporate partner-aided skin checks into their intimate moments. The message was simple: the foreplay you love could save the one you love.

The challenge was to increase awareness about the importance of early detection of melanoma among young adults—a group that often underestimates their own cancer risk. We needed to create a memorable, impactful campaign that broke away from the typical, empathetic tone in cancer awareness messaging and instead engaged the audience through bold, attention-grabbing content.

Challenges:

1. Cutting through the clutter: The cancer awareness space is saturated with messages that often blend together in their seriousness and caution.
2. Engaging a younger audience: Young adults don’t always see themselves as at-risk for cancer, so it was crucial to connect with them in a way that was relevant and memorable.
3. Delivering a sensitive message with humor: Talking about cancer detection and intimacy in the same breath is tricky. We needed to ensure the message was impactful without being offensive.

Objectives:

1. Increase awareness about early melanoma detection among younger demographics.
2. Encourage action—specifically, partner-aided monthly skin scans.
3. Drive traffic to Fuck Cancer's resources and increase community engagement.

We launched "Serious Foreplay," a bold campaign urging couples to perform partner-aided skin checks during intimate moments. The idea: skin cancer checks are more natural and effective in a familiar setting. Using humor, provocative language, and visual storytelling, we created videos for adult education and lifestyle sites, amplified by sex-positive influencers. The highlight was the "Kamole Sutra" deck—cards with playful, educational “positions” for skin checks—making a serious task fun and engaging.

Results:

• Massive Engagement: Reached over 1 million users on social media, generating 400+ clicks in weeks.
• Video Performance: Outperformed industry benchmarks by 800%.
• Increased Awareness: Nearly tripled traffic to Fuck Cancer's website.
• Real-Life Impact: The campaign's approach proved its worth early on when one of our own team members discovered a potentially dangerous mole through a partner-aided scan, underscoring the life-saving potential of our message.

The campaign was designed to resonate with a broad, culturally aware audience, particularly younger adults who are increasingly open to discussing both sexual wellness and health in frank, honest terms. Aligning the launch with Valentine’s Day added a timely, culturally relevant twist, making the conversation around intimacy and health checks especially pertinent.

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