RAPP UK Teams Up with Ann Summers to Remove Fear from the Smear 

Leading customer experience agency, RAPP UK has teamed up with sex toy and lingerie brand Ann Summers to create a campaign aimed at destigmatising cervical smear tests and amplifying the need for women to attend cervical screening for their ongoing health. 

The Remove Fear from the Smear campaign aims to counter anxiety often associated with cervical screening by promoting what appears to be a compact new ‘life saving’ sex toy. But it is in fact a speculum, the instrument used during cervical smear tests, that helps to save a lot more than just sex lives. Over recent years there has been a decrease in the percentage of eligible individuals attending their cervical screening, despite the programme preventing 70% of cervical cancer deaths.  

The campaign teases a new product which will lead customers and followers to believe they are launching a new sex toy, followed by a big reveal where the audience learns that the new ‘toy’ is in fact a speculum – The Life-Saving One.  

The integrated campaign, which launched on Monday 19th June, the start of National Cervical Screening Week, is running online and on social, as well as the pink speculums appearing in-store alongside signage highlighting pertinent statistics around cervical screening. The campaign is supported by celebrity doctor, Dr Frankie and influencer, Sarah Jayne Dunn who will be sharing content to support the campaign on Instagram. 

Ann Summers is a brand that encourages women to come together and openly talk about sexual pleasure and wellness. It’s here that women buy toys of all shapes and sizes, often bigger than the speculum used during cervical screenings. This awareness campaign aims to talk about cervical screening outside of a clinical, daunting environment and to remove some of the fear associated with it. Ann Summers recognises that there are many factors as to why someone might not want to go for a smear test and the size of the speculum is just one of these, but if everyone tested regularly 83% of deaths could be prevented each year.  

Afua Basoah, head of health and social impact at RAPP UK says: “Women aged between 25-29 are the least likely to attend their cervical smear test and also Ann Summer’s core customer base – making this partnership incredibly powerful. By providing this new and super creative lens for women to think about the process of cervical screening, we hope they will see there really is no need to ‘fear the smear’. The campaign is designed to be bold and open about women’s health and encourage those who would have been reluctant, to get into the habit of regular screening – which we know helps to save lives.”