This video is part of a national campaign launched by Wisconsin ad agency Laughlin Constable. While this spot suggests “cat lovers deserve to die,” other targets include “hipsters,” “The genetically privileged” and “crazy old aunts.” The message is actually courtesy of the Lung Cancer Alliance, and it promotes the website NoOneDeservesToDie.org. “Many people believe that if you have lung cancer you did something to deserve it,” the website states. “Lung cancer doesn’t discriminate and neither should you.”
The campaign made us recall what Lung Cancer Foundation of America spokeswoman Rebecca Schwartz told the Los Angeles Times after singer Donna Summer died in May:
“The stigma of the disease is crushing, and any announcement of a lung cancer diagnosis is often accompanied by an assumption that you somehow brought the disease upon yourself.”
Lung cancer victims and mesothelioma victims share many struggles, and this campaign addresses an aspect to devastating diseases that many of us do not appreciate but we should all be better aware of. The benefit of a campaign like this one is that it has the power to not only get attention, but really make a lasting impact. As the Alliance notes, lung cancer kills more than 160,000 people a year, making it the deadlier than prostate, breast or colon cancer. More importantly, the disease affects nonsmokers too.
We should not treat those who have been diagnosed with lung cancer as though they did something to deserve it. If you or a loved one has been recently diagnosed with mesothelioma, contact our firm today to speak with Dallas litigation attorneys who will treat you and your family with respect and compassion.
Stanley Iola, LLP – Dallas litigation lawyers