"Dad"

1 June 2017

60s

Cancer's gravity.

'Brave' is a word bandied about too often within the advertising industry. Perspective is provided by the bravery of the characters depicted in this campaign for Macmillan... but it can also genuinely be used to describe the decisions taken by VCCP and Outsider's Jim Gilchrist when making it.

Attitudes towards cancer have noticeably hardened in the communication put out by the various charities seeking funds to combat it. There is a defiance where once there was only fear. This projects a sense that we're starting to get on top of the spectrum of diseases we call cancer... diseases which have blighted human existence since time immemorial.

But this bravado comes at a price.

For every courageous friend-of-a-friend we see on Facebook defying their illness with cheerful blogs about their determination to wring every ounce out of life, there are dozens of others struggling to get through the day as they wonder whether they will survive or succumb.

For every Steve Hewlett - the journalist who regularly reported on his cancer for Radio 4's PM almost until the day he died - there are hundreds and hundreds who can't articulate their feelings about their illness to their closest friends.

Their lives must be made all the harder by the conspicuousness of others' bravery - as they see it. How do you inhabit your life when all you can picture is your family having to continue without you?

Gilchrist's film addresses those who find themselves caught in this maelstrom. It reminds them that Macmillan are there to help negotiate this immensely difficult terrain. Theirs is the arm around your shoulder which helps you find the strength to carry on. And this message is strengthened enormously by the 'bravery' of confronting the awful truth about illnesses from which recovery is uncertain.

UK

Charities