tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50759592008-01-21T21:27:01.281-06:00will trying to make the prostate funny get more guys to care about their gland health?Kim GarretsonBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5075959.post-53450514788508086142007-05-14T16:35:00.001-05:002007-05-14T16:35:59.929-05:00testKim Garretsontag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5075959.post-21038889414168034682007-05-11T12:57:00.001-05:002007-05-17T15:51:21.464-05:00testKim Garretsontag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5075959.post-1121531602793555652005-07-16T11:32:00.000-05:002005-08-01T07:27:59.576-05:00 NOW ONLINE AT THIS LINK: The Piņata Mind, the book that inspired the MansGland Campaign.>
Our campaign is gaining momentum. In January both Time magazine and the Los Angeles Times featured photos and elements of the story about our experiment in men's health communications.Also, my book about my journey to good health is now online here at this link.Kim Garretsontag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5075959.post-1081038576387652692004-11-20T18:29:00.000-06:002005-07-16T11:06:13.820-05:00 The Crisis in Men's Health and Men's Health Communications: An Apathetic Media Audience Caring & Doing Too Little For Its Own Health.There is a crisis in men's health. Too many men are uninterested in reading about, talking about or listening to advice about their health. With prostate health, many men under 50 do not even know the basic function of the prostate. How can we alert them to its Kim Garretsontag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5075959.post-1121548655178644092004-11-10T16:11:00.000-06:002005-07-17T11:42:38.503-05:00Getting doofus husbands to go to the doctor and just get the basic health screenings...
I've had several conversations in the last month with women who have brilliant husbands. But, they won't go to the doctor, and they won't tell their spouses why. I know why. They are trapped in fear behind a facade of strength. Perhaps jabbing at that silly veil with silly pictures could help?Kim Garretsontag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5075959.post-1099251975570284492004-10-31T13:43:00.000-06:002005-07-16T11:29:25.580-05:00Experimenting with more than funny pictures: Our 1-800-PSA-TEST comedy call-in service will feature one-minute funny bits about getting tested.
Is the notion of cancer so off-putting that men either avoid the PSA Test, or worse, don't take the time to read about the test's importance? And with the recent controversy over the efficacy of the test, do some men shrug and say: "if it's no good, it'sKim Garretsontag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5075959.post-1079898166377530392004-03-21T13:42:00.000-06:002005-01-30T10:54:16.686-06:00 Creating Funny Pictures About Prostate Health? Remixing Vintage Album & Pulp Magazine Covers As One Tactic.
Old Albums Updated. Galleries of terribly funny album covers from terrible albums of old have begun to appear on the Web. We're having fun altering some to focus on prostate health issues, such as the difficulty some women have in getting their husbands to get the proper Kim Garretsontag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5075959.post-1075565573447665982004-01-31T10:12:00.000-06:002005-01-30T20:13:21.966-06:00 More Album Covers Remixed
Left: If DEVO had selected a different name? One hit wonder DEVO is best known for its hit Whip It. What if the band had been called something else, and the hit had been Prick It, referring to the drawing of blood?.Center: If Political Correctness Had Not Been Invented. Imagine if this surely-awful band had Kim Garretsontag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5075959.post-1067472785482165922003-10-29T18:13:00.000-06:002005-01-30T20:26:27.840-06:00 We're Participating in Penn State's Crisis in Men's Health Conference.
Now that the 2004 Men's Health conference is over, the second year of this important national conference promises to again increase awareness and action among the health care industry and university research institutions. Our illustrated white paper for the 2004 conference surmised that traditional sources of infoKim Garretsontag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5075959.post-1058737966425554212003-07-20T16:52:00.000-05:002005-01-30T21:00:38.806-06:00Our Campaign's National Media Coverage Expands, Winter '05.
What follows are our two globally-distributed newspaper feature articles.This HealthDay syndicated article appeared more than 100 top newspapers.
Here, the LA Times runs our Chicago Tribune syndicated story.
In January, 2005, both Time magazine and the Los Angeles Times covered elements of our story, and several Internet health Kim Garretsontag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5075959.post-954064082003-06-07T11:02:00.000-05:002005-01-30T20:43:15.406-06:00 Allow Us to Be Blunt About the Controversy Over the PSA Test: Men Can Get It To Know Something, Or Skip It To Know Nothing.
Why Don't All Docs Test All Men? Our campaign aims to be blunt about some of our positions. We believe that if a doctor is not following the American Urological Association recommendations about the PSA test, then he Kim Garretsontag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5075959.post-900202772003-03-02T18:18:00.000-06:002005-07-16T11:47:48.376-05:00 CAUTION: The following content is more controversial. Prostate Cancer is Not a Laughing Matter. But, can humor help in the fight?
We started our campaign to use PG-13 humor to make the prostate funny so as not to offend anyone. However, marketing executives from the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries have asked us to explore the use of 'edgier' humor for reaching younger men. And, Kim Garretsontag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5075959.post-900164052003-03-02T16:43:00.000-06:002005-01-30T20:50:18.786-06:00 One of the Biggest Problems: Too Many Men Do Not Know the Prostate's Function.
In doing research for our campaign, we've been shocked to learn that many men do not know the prostate's function. Richard Saul Wurman's epochal book Information Anxiety says that if someone does not understand the basics of a topic, he can't learn anything new about it. Kim Garretsontag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5075959.post-900001722003-03-02T09:29:00.000-06:002004-10-31T14:25:35.463-06:00
Watch for some of the graphic arts industry's best artists to use photo manipulation software in creating funny pictures for our campaign's various galleries. With this image, we can imagine the 'puppy dog' looks that men give their wives when they don't follow through on the proper medical tests. Comment?
Kim Garretsontag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5075959.post-899996042003-03-02T09:10:00.000-06:002005-01-30T20:37:08.736-06:00 So you're in a noisy restaurant and you see a couple of guys start to do strange gyrations with their trouser legs back and forth as if they're communicating. They may actually be spelling out words in a new language -- Trouser Talk. And when they are talking about having to go too often, they may have BPH -- and thus low flow -- and not know it. (Of course, the gyrations could also mean they Kim Garretsontag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5075959.post-899990972003-03-02T08:51:00.000-06:002004-10-31T14:16:11.046-06:00
Why does this site have so many gags about guys always running to the bathroom? Because that's a key signal for a friend, wife or girlfriend to pick up and make certain this chap gets a DRE and PSA test. Names of the cleaning crew on the left of this comic poster are: Slow Mop Sue, Sam Scrub-A-Dub, and TP Refilling Freak.
Of course, the reason public johns are closed for cleaningKim Garretsontag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5075959.post-899982802003-03-02T08:22:00.000-06:002005-02-15T19:39:31.493-06:00
The Web is wonderful for finding odd images like our awful old album covers above. Here we haven't a clue what this image means, but since many women probably feel like they are talking to a brick wall when encouraging their husbands to take the proper steps in prostate health, maybe this image speaks to that problem.
Testosterone is the enemy of prostate cancer cells, yet Kim Garretsontag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5075959.post-899982332003-03-02T08:20:00.000-06:002004-04-11T17:16:51.123-05:00
You can admit it. You really don't know where the prostate is (other than it must be close to the entry point the doc uses for digital rectal exams). You don't know how big it is. And so on. Again, it's simple. It's the size of walnut and it sits just below your bladder. The urethra, the tube that carries urine, runs through the middle of the gland.
Kim Garretsontag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5075959.post-899569882003-03-01T10:14:00.000-06:002004-04-25T18:30:43.340-05:00
If you know men who feel trapped by trying to maintain a facade of their invincibility but don't do the right things for their health, we say: "We could give a Rat's Ass. Get smart." The Men's Health Network is a fantastic organization. Consider the following from its Goals statement: "There is an ongoing, increasing and predominantly silent crisis in the health andKim Garretson