The Bread Exam
Spinneys / Lebanese Breast Cancer Foundation2020
The Bread Exam is a 2020 recipe video, packaging and PR for Spinneys / Lebanese Breast Cancer Foundation, created by McCann Paris.
The line
Khabazte? (Have you baked bread?)
Why it works
Tradition kept many Lebanese women from talking openly about their bodies, which made teaching breast self-examination hard. For Pink October 2020, McCann Paris, the Lebanese Breast Cancer Foundation, AUBMC and Spinneys hid the lesson in a bread recipe. The well-known baker Um Ali, trained by a gynaecologist, kneads and presses dough using the three movements of a self-exam; breasts are never shown or named. Doctors, survivors and influencers first shared it as an ordinary recipe under the question Khabazte? ('Have you baked bread?'), before the media revealed its double meaning. The steps also appeared on Spinneys flour packs and bread wrappers, and influencers in Turkey, Germany and the UK later made their own versions. It is studied as a model of working with a cultural norm, not against it. Contagious reported a reach of 112 million; the award entry claims 86% of respondents said baking would remind them to self-check. It won the PR Grand Prix at Cannes in 2021 and a One Show Gold Pencil.
Techniques
- Purpose and cause Teaches breast self-examination to women held back by tradition, hiding the three movements inside a bread recipe so breasts are never shown.
- Plain folks Wraps the lesson in an ordinary recipe from a well-known baker, shared under an everyday question about baking bread.
Sources · 4
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