A well-known physician from Chennai has criticized a breast cancer awareness advertisement on the Delhi Metro for allegedly sexualizing the illness. The usage of oranges as a metaphor for breasts in a campaign by the non-profit You We Can, created by Yuvraj Singh, was criticized by Dr. Jaison Philip, a leading urologist at Government Kalaignar Centenary Hospital.

The AI-generated picture of ladies on a bus, one of whom is clutching a pair of oranges, is included in the aforementioned transportation advertisement. In October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the commercial campaign encourages women to “check your oranges a month” in order to spot any lumps early.

This advertisement at [sic] Delhi Metro bothers me. My own devoted mother passed away from breast cancer, which was discovered to be in Stage 4. Dr. Philip said on social media, “The irony was that her son (me) was a breast surgeon at the time, and out of modesty, she did not even tell her own son, when it was a small lump, that it was potentially curable.”

Therefore, please refrain from sexualizing breast cancer, the most prevalent disease among women globally. I have a strong interest in breast cancer early detection and treatment. If patients want female doctors, the excellent Tamil Nadu (TN) health department has assigned enough female surgeons, radiologists, and pathologists to government hospitals to identify breast cancer.

Dr. Philip also questioned why the word “breast” is still forbidden, saying that it is perfectly OK as long as it is used “in the context of breast cancer diagnosis” anyhow.

The urologist’s opinion was shared by many on the erstwhile Twitter. The You We Can advertisement was deemed “crass,” inconsiderate, and of bad taste by users. According to others, it even trivializes serious conditions like breast cancer, which makes up 28.2% of all malignancies in Indian women.

One of the main causes of fatalities from breast cancer is late detection. Every 30 days, experts advise doing a self-examination similar to the one seen in the advertisement.

It also boils down to lifestyle quality and family medical history.