In healthcare, logic fails.
Telling people to get checked. To be responsible. To care about future health. It doesn’t land – especially with men.
So a bowel cancer awareness campaign here in the UK cut through the noise with five words:
“Don’t Die of Embarrassment.”
It didn’t explain symptoms. It didn’t scare with stats. It reframed the entire decision using emotion and identity.
And it worked.
The Behavioural Problem: Health Risk ≠ Health Action
Men delay help-seeking more than women – especially for conditions involving stigma, ageing, or bodily function.
Why?
- Optimism bias: “It won’t happen to me.”
- Ego threat: “It’s not manly to complain.”
- Status quo bias: “I feel fine.”
- Social embarrassment: “What if it’s nothing?”
These aren’t medical issues. They’re behavioural defaults.
The Intervention: Reframe Action as Strength
“Don’t Die of Embarrassment” flipped the script.
It said:
- The real risk isn’t illness. It’s inaction.
- Embarrassment isn’t a private feeling. It’s a public killer.
- The behaviour isn’t weakness. It’s courageous.
- Shame becomes the enemy, not the condition.
The behavioural levers?
- Emotional framing: Uses embarrassment, not facts, to drive urgency.
- Loss aversion: Not acting could cost your life.
- Identity anchoring: The ‘right’ behaviour is reframed as masculine, brave, smart.
- Cognitive dissonance: “Am I really putting pride over survival?”
The Result: More Screening. Earlier Detection.
- The campaign triggered a measurable increase in bowel screening uptake.
- Especially among men over 50.
- It was one of the first examples of emotionally calibrated health messaging based on behavioural science — not moral appeals.
The Takeaway for Business
If you’re communicating a hard message:
- Facts won’t move people.
- Rational benefits won’t beat emotional friction.
- The risk of action needs to feel smaller than the risk of doing nothing.
Don’t frame what’s logical. Frame what’s felt.
Sometimes, the only way to change behaviour is to make the wrong choice feel stupid.
