Pink Is Not Enough Breast Cancer Awareness Month National Breast Cancer Coalition Advocate Toolkit

Transcription

1 Pink Is Not Enough National Breast Cancer Coalition Advocate Toolkit

2 2 INTRODUCTION Awareness of breast cancer is at an all-time high. Yet breast cancer still kills almost as many Americans each year as it did 25 years ago. We lost 43,583 women to breast cancer in 1991 in the U.S., and we will lose approximately 40,450 women and 440 men to breast cancer this year. This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the National Breast Cancer Coalition will change the conversation from awareness to action. Awareness, thanks to pink, is at an all time high but women and men are still losing their lives to breast cancer. Pink is Not Enough! This October, let s spend less time focusing on pink products and ribbons and more time taking needed actions. Included in this guide are ways you can help spread the message of Breast Cancer Deadline 2020, challenging policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders to work toward the goal of knowing how to end breast cancer by January 1, Together, we can help change the conversation moving away from awareness and toward ending this disease. TABLE OF CONTENTS OUTREACH GUIDE 3 Ways to participate, including social media, using talking points at events, securing media interviews, and/or writing a letter to the editor Pink is Not Enough: ADVOCATE TALKING POINTS 5 Talking points on breast cancer statistics, Pink is Not Enough, Breast Cancer Deadline 2020, the Artemis Project, and NBCC SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDE 7 Guides for using Facebook and Twitter this month, including suggested posts for each week QUESTIONS? Annette Larkin at ALarkin@breastcancerdeadline2020.org

3 OUTREACH GUIDE Ways to Spread the Breast Cancer Deadline 2020 Message During Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2016 Telling your breast cancer story and talking about the important work being done by the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) toward meeting Breast Cancer Deadline 2020 will help change the conversation around breast cancer. Awareness isn t working, pink ribbons and products do not solve the problem. Only action will end breast cancer. Post or Tweet on Your Social Media Platforms Many people get their news from Facebook or Twitter, so you can help your friends, family, and colleagues cut through the pink awareness clutter this month. Please see the Social Media Guide below and on our website for sample posts and tweets to use and which dates to use them. Participate in the Discussion at a Breast Cancer Awareness Month Event When you attend a Breast Cancer Awareness Month event in your community, speak up. Whether in a group discussion or in one-on-one conversations with other survivors or people who care about ending breast cancer, your efforts to recruit others to support Deadline 2020 will help us meet our goal. Please see the Pink is Not Enough: Advocate Talking Points document for the messages to share this month. Do an Interview with Local Media Your local newspapers and TV stations will be doing Breast Cancer Awareness Month stories throughout the month of October. Reaching out to tell your breast cancer story and to talk about Breast Cancer Deadline 2020 will help reporters better understand the issues and better report what s really needed this October action, not a pink product marketing campaign. Please see the Interviewing 101 guide, available on our website, for more information on securing and executing an interview with your local TV station or newspaper. Write a Letter to the Editor Writing a letter to the editor is a good way to spread information about Breast Cancer Deadline 2020 because your messages will be published in full not edited by a reporter as part of a larger story, for example. Note that letters to the editor need to be short. Newspapers typically have a 150 to 200 word limit. To check your newspaper s word limits, visit the Submit a letter to the editor page on their website. 3

4 4 A sample letter with a 200 word count, using the Pink is Not Enough: Advocate Talking Points as a guide, is below. Subject: Pink Is Not Enough Awareness of breast cancer is at an all-time high. Yet we haven t made much progress in stopping women from dying of it. We lost 43,583 women to breast cancer in 1991 in the U.S., and we will lose approximately 40,450 women and 440 men to breast cancer this year. Awareness isn t working, pink ribbons and products do not solve the problem. Only action will end breast cancer. This October, join me in taking action. Support Breast Cancer Deadline 2020, which challenges policymakers, researchers and other stakeholders to work toward the goal of knowing how to end breast cancer by January 1, Ending breast cancer is an urgent task and requires changing the conversation around breast cancer. We need to move away from awareness and toward preventing breast cancer from happening and preventing people from dying from it. The Artemis Project is the research component to Deadline 2020 an advocate-led, innovative, mission-driven approach focused on intensive work in two areas: (1) primary prevention, or how we stop people from getting breast cancer in the first place; and (2) preventing metastasis, or how we stop people from dying of breast cancer. Artemis participants are making progress toward developing a preventive breast cancer vaccine that s right, a vaccine. Learn how you can help at Name City, State Share your good work Did you do an interview that ran in your local paper? Talk to a TV reporter at a Breast Cancer Awareness Month event? Place a letter to the editor? Tell us! We want to know about your efforts to share information about Deadline 2020, the Artemis Project, and NBCC. Thank you for all that you do. Annette at ALarkin@breastcancerdeadline2020.org

5 5 PINK IS NOT ENOUGH: ADVOCATE TALKING POINTS THE PROBLEM: Over the past 20 years, despite the billions of dollars committed to breast cancer awareness and research, we have not made any real progress toward ending the disease. o In 1991, 119 women died of breast cancer every day in the United States. In 2011, we lost 112 women every day. o The chance of a woman in the U.S. developing breast cancer during her lifetime has increased from about 1 in 11 in 1975 to 1 in 8 today. o Worldwide, we lost more than half a million women last year and, if nothing changes, we will lose 846,587 women globally in That is an increase of almost 60%. BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH 2016: PINK IS NOT ENOUGH: Awareness of breast cancer is at an all-time high. Yet breast cancer still kills almost as many Americans each year as it did 25 years ago. We lost 43,583 women to breast cancer in 1991 in the U.S., and we will lose approximately 40,450 women and 440 men to breast cancer this year. o Awareness isn t working, pink ribbons and products don t solve the problem. Only action will end breast cancer. NBCC is taking the actions needed to end breast cancer and end breast cancer awareness month. o I ask others to join me in supporting Breast Cancer Deadline 2020, which challenges policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders to work toward the goal of knowing how to end breast cancer by January 1, DEADLINE 2020 : Deadline 2020 is a bold initiative and call to action. Ending breast cancer is an urgent task and requires changing the conversation around breast cancer. o We need to move away from awareness and early detection. We need to move toward preventing breast cancer from happening in the first place. We also need to prevent people from dying from it. o That s where the research component to Deadline 2020 the Artemis Project comes in. ARTEMIS PROJECT : The Artemis Project is an advocate-led, innovative, missiondriven approach to research. The Artemis Project focuses on intensive work in two areas: o (1) primary prevention, or how we stop people from getting breast cancer in the first place; and o (2) preventing metastasis, or how we stop people from dying of breast cancer. The most recent report from Artemis participants shows progress toward developing a preventive breast cancer vaccine and can be found on the NBCC website (bit.ly/artemisinfo). HOW OTHERS CAN HELP: Donate to the National Breast Cancer Coalition today at Become an advocate by joining the National Action Network (bit.ly/nationalactionnetwork).

6 6 ABOUT NBCC: Founded in 1991, the National Breast Cancer Coalition s mission is to end breast cancer through the power of action and advocacy. NBCC increases federal funding for meaningful breast cancer research; monitors how research funds are spent; expands access to quality health care for all; and ensures that trained advocates influence all decision making that affects breast cancer. NBCC also has an advocate-led, innovative, mission-driven research effort, called the Artemis Project, focused on primary prevention and prevention of metastasis.

7 7 SOCIAL MEDIA OUTREACH GUIDE Ways to Spread the Breast Cancer Deadline 2020 Message During Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2016 Telling your breast cancer story and talking about the important work being done by the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) toward meeting Breast Cancer Deadline 2020 will help change the conversation around breast cancer because pink is not enough. Theme + Hashtag When talking about NBCC, Deadline 2020 and Breast Cancer Awareness Month on your Facebook and Twitter accounts, it is important to stick to our theme and hashtag, so we have a consistent message across all platforms. Theme: Pink Is Not Enough Pink is an iconic symbol of breast cancer and breast cancer awareness month. Today, breast cancer awareness is at an all time high but awareness isn t keeping people alive. That s why NBCC is working towards something that will. With your help, we will know how to end breast cancer by Hashtag: #PinkIsNotEnough What s a hashtag? When you post a word or phrase (no spaces) with a pound sign (#) in front, you make that term searchable. You can search for all tweets or posts having to do with Breast Cancer Awareness Month by clicking on that hashtag. Post or Tweet on Your Social Media Platforms Many people get their news from Facebook or Twitter, so you can help your friends, family, and colleagues cut through the awareness clutter this month by posting Breast Cancer Deadline 2020 messages on your social media accounts. Facebook Facebook posts are not bound by character limits like Twitter, so Facebook is a great platform for sharing your personal story as well as the NBCC talking points all in one post! Please be sure to use the #PinkIsNotEnough hashtag in your posts. Also feel free to incorporate other relevant hashtags such as #breastcancer Please also tag the NBCC by Breast Cancer Coalition as you compose your post. A drop-down menu should appear as you type from there you can select the NBCC to tag us. We will also be posting daily on Facebook, and we encourage you to like and share our posts with your network. Just click the Share link in the bottom right-hand corner of the NBCC s official posts from there you can share it in full, or you can add your own thoughts to our post before sharing with your network. Twitter Tweets are limited to 140 characters. With this in mind, tweets should be short and succinct. Please use the #PinkIsNotEnough hashtag in your posts. Also feel free to incorporate other relevant hashtags such as #breastcancer.

8 Tagging on Twitter is similar to tagging on Facebook. If you d like to catch the attention of a particular user or organization, find their Twitter handle and reference it in your tweet by prefacing it with symbol. (For example, to tag the NBCC in your tweet, your post should Week-By-Week Recommended Posts Simply copy-and-paste these recommended posts, which correspond to NBCC s weekly themes. Or, look Breast Cancer Coalition on Facebook on Twitter and simply share or retweet our posts to your followers. OCTOBER in 8 campaign Tag 8 women you know on Facebook 1 out of 8 women will have breast cancer in her lifetime. #PinkIsNotEnough, we need action. I m asking you to repost this while tagging yourself and 7 friends and donate $8 to the National Breast Cancer Coalition s Pink is Not Enough Campaign in honor of women you don t want to lose to breast cancer. Breast cancer awareness is at an all time high. So is breast cancer. #PinkIsNotEnough #PinkIsNotEnough to end breast cancer, but I know what is. I already know about breast cancer & now I know that #PinkIsNotEnough. Help us know how to end breast cancer by 2020 by donating $20 Awareness is great, but #PinkIsNotEnough. We need action to end Share link to NBCC press release on Breast Cancer Awareness Month OCTOBER (Metastatic Breast Cancer day is on Oct 13 th ) Not only is it important to prevent #breastcancer, Artemis Project focuses on preventing metastasis as well. #PinkIsNotEnough The detection of metastatic breast cancer (the lethal kind) at diagnosis has not changed since #PinkIsNotEnough Share Link to Huff Post blog on NBCC s work on metastatic breast cancer Share link to Summit Registration OCTOBER #PinkIsNotEnough to end breast cancer. Become an NBCC advocate today. #PinkIsNotEnough! Donate to NBCC, together, we will know how to end #breastcancer. Tag someone you care about: I don t want you to get Breast Cancer that s why I m donating in your honor to the Pink is Not Enough campaign benefiting the National Breast Cancer Coalition: 8 OCTOBER (leading up to BCAM and to the Election) #PinkIsNotEnough because (add your own personal anecdote).@repfredupton - #PinkIsNotEnough, won t you move HR 1197 to the floor for a vote?.@gopleader #PinkIsNotEnough, Say #Yesto1197 & bring it up for a vote. Women s lives depend on it.

9 9 If we want to end breast cancer we need something stronger than awareness. Let s end breast cancer once and for all. #PinkIsNotEnough. Tag someone you love (this campaign ends on October 26th): I don t want you to get Breast Cancer that s why I m donating in your honor to the Revlon LOVE campaign benefiting the National Breast Cancer Coalition. #ChooseLove

10 10 INTERVIEWING 101 Getting and Executing an Interview with your Local Newspaper or TV Station for Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2016 Your local newspapers and TV stations will be doing Breast Cancer Awareness Month stories throughout the month of October. Reaching out to tell your breast cancer story and to talk about the important work being done by the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) towards achieving Breast Cancer Deadline 2020 will help reporters in your community change the conversation around breast cancer we need action, not awareness. STEP ONE: Preparing for the interview Develop your sound bites : You may speak with a reporter for 5-10 minutes, but she/he will only use a line or two. This is an important exercise to complete before you offer an interview: determining your sound bites. Break down your thinking into two parts: 1. Your story: Write down the three to five things you want to say about your experience with breast cancer. Consider answering these questions in 1-2 sentences: Why are you working to end breast cancer? What are the actions you are taking? What can others to do to help? 2. NBCC Talking Points: Review the NBCC Breast Cancer Awareness Month talking points. While you do not need to use all of the suggested talking points, it is important to stick to what we provided you so we are consistent in interviews around the country. STEP TWO: Contacting your local paper or station If you do not have an existing contact at the newspaper or TV station, call the newsroom phone number (sometimes labeled as the news tip line ) or send the general newsroom account an . o NOTE: If this is not immediately evident to you on the paper/station s website, scroll to the bottom of the page and look for a Contact Us link. On the Contact Us page, there should be a newsroom phone number listed. If not, call the main line and ask for the newsroom. An assignment editor or reporter will answer the newsroom phone. Introduce yourself as a breast cancer survivor and/or advocate who has an important perspective to share and is interested in speaking with a reporter for Breast Cancer Awareness Month stories. If they need more background information, preview your personal story and/or NBCC talking points. At this point, the assignment editor or reporter will likely take down your name and contact information to pass along to a reporter. Or, less likely, the person who answers the phone may transfer you directly to a reporter or producer who is already working on a breast cancer story. If so, you can do the interview over the phone at that time or schedule a later time to talk, whichever you prefer. Note that if you are calling a TV station, the reporter may want to do a pre-interview over the phone before she/he agrees to meet in person to film you.

11 11 STEP THREE: Interview logistics and ground rules Whether you do the interview immediately or schedule it for another time, you should be prepared with the following: o Ask questions: Even though they are interviewing you, you should feel comfortable asking the reporter questions so you have a better idea of what to share with her/him. For example: What is your understanding of breast cancer awareness/treatment/mortality? Who else are you talking to for this story? o Attribution: As a reminder, reporters rarely use everything you give them, so it is important to think of your comments as sound bites that you would like to be quoted in the story. Reporters will ultimately pull a short quote or two from you and then generalize the rest of the conversation in their own writing as background. If there is information you would like to share but you do not want to be quoted, say this is for your background purposes, not for attribution. o Additional information: At any time, you can refer the reporter to Annette at NBCC (alarkin@breastcancerdeadline2020.org) for additional information on Deadline 2020, the Artemis Project, NBCC s history, or for questions that you would rather not answer or questions that are overly technical or require additional medical or science background. STEP FOUR: Executing the interview Tell your story: Start with who you are and why you care about ending breast cancer. NBCC talking points: After you briefly introduce your story, transition to the talking points we shared with you. Anything you can do to stick to those important messages helps us reach the goal of spreading Breast Cancer Deadline 2020 around the country in a consistent way. Tricky or Uncomfortable Questions: If the reporter asks a question you don t know or you don t like, you don t have to answer it. If you don t know the answer, simply say, That question would be better answered by NBCC. Refer the reporter to Annette at NBCC, who can get the reporter the information she/he needs. Keep it concise: The reporter will only use a small part of your interview in her or his story, so remember the quick, one or two sentence sound bites you prepared. o EXAMPLES: I am working to end breast cancer by 2020 because I am a ten-year survivor and I do not want my daughter to face breast cancer. o We need less awareness and more action. We are still losing nearly the same number of women (and men) to breast cancer as we did 20 years ago. STEP FIVE: Sharing your good work Did you do an interview that ran in your local paper? Talk to a TV reporter at a Breast Cancer Awareness Month event? Tell us! We want to know about your efforts to share information about Deadline 2020, the Artemis Project, and the NBCC. o Annette Larkin at ALarkin@breastcancerdeadline2020.org