Check ’em Tuesday – Tabloid Triumph or Tank?

March 17, 2014 Written by Lara Hallett

Let’s face it, The Sun’s Page 3 profile has had a bit of a hammering in recent years. The No More Page 3 campaign, launched in 2012, has received masses of support, with high profile organisations such as UK Girlguiding and Twitter royalty like Caitlin Moran requesting that those big busted babes put ’em away.

The messaging behind the No More Page 3 campaign is serious. That the images in the paper are there for no other reason than for the sexual gratification of men. That women are objectified. Sexual objects. Nothing more. This leads to sexual abuse. Normalises it in the eyes of the reader.

Lucy Holmes, the founder of the campaign, delivers a compelling argument in a video sitting in the about section. She is personable and convincing. She tugs at just the right values to draw in a wide section of the audience. Very emotive. A fair share of activism. Appealing to families. And equality at the heart.

Fast forward a year and a bit, and this month, The Sun kicked off its partnership with the ‘Coppa Feel’ campaign. For six months Page 3 will be campaigning to raise awareness of breast cancer amongst young women, encouraging readers to check their breasts for early signs of the disease.

The collaboration has certainly divided opinion. Jonathan Brown at The Independent has written about how it trivialises the subject matter. Whereas others have spoken out deeming it pure genius, applauding The Sun for its support.

What do we think? Well. When The Sun does a campaign, it really does a campaign. It goes hell for leather. Yes, ‘Check ’em Tuesday’ is in your face, it’s brash, but it also gets an important message across to 5.5 million readers.

They use simple language, easy to understand guides, celebrity backers and real-life stories. The perfect ingredients to any public awareness campaign. Oh yes, with an added splash of a smack you in the face page 3 presence. You can’t miss it. It certainly isn’t tucked away beside the TV guide.

Here come the stats: The Sun is the highest circulating daily newspaper in the UK. Almost 70% of its readers fit into ‘C2DE’ bracket – notoriously hard to reach. And 41% are woman. A captive audience.

While there’s much debate surrounding The Sun’s intentions behind the campaign. Check ’em Tuesday has certainly got people talking. A lot of people talking. It has already raised much needed awareness about an important issue.

Once again, The Sun has managed to jump on a good PR op, becoming quite the master at goading its competitors into talking about its product.