Pancreatic Cancer Ads Blasted for Saying Disease Is Worse Than Other Cancers

Charity cites 3% survival rate

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Pancreatic Cancer Action has issued a thoughtful, heartfelt defense of its controversial U.K. awareness campaign that shows sufferers saying they wish they had other types of cancer with higher survival rates.

One print ad in the series uses a quote from 24-year-old pancreatic cancer patient Kerry Harvey—"I wish I had breast cancer"—as its headline and notes that the survival rate is only 3 percent, the lowest among all 22 common cancers.

"With a limited budget, it was vital that the advert would stand out and provoke thought and initiate discussion among members of the public, the media and influencers," PCA chief executive Ali Stunt writes in the Daily Mail.

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