4 March, 2014

Today The Sun, still the UK’s most read daily newspaper, has launched a partnership with breast cancer charity CoppaFeel to reduce the number of women dying from the disease.

The six-month deal is reported to be worth £1.5 million to the charity in media coverage and will be a regular feature with “check ’em Tuesday” reminders.

The Sun editor David Dinsmore says: “I’m really proud to be part of this and to be joining up with CoppaFeel! We thought we could do some real good with page 3”.

If done well, the sustained coverage could have a massive impact – saving many lives. It’s also a great PR opportunity for Page 3 itself, which is seen by many as an outdated institution. But equally there are questions raised by such a high profile partnership:

Is Page 3 the right channel to really affect the behaviour of women across the country? Or, will it actually alienate an increasing number, particularly those backing the anti-Page 3 campaign (with the tag line ‘because boobs aren’t news), which has gathered support over recent months?

We’ve been involved in supporting a major charity to broker an exclusive repeat feature deal with a tabloid newspaper and although it’s easy to be impressed by the potential reach coverage will give you, it’s important that the fit is right and the charity’s message and profile are protected and not compromised in the process.

It will be interesting to see how much support this partnership gets!