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The Truth's letter to Lung Cancer Alliance. (Our petiiton is now closed)

Dear Ms. Fenton Ambrose and LCA's Board of Directors: I urge you to end the needless use of "naughty nurse" imagery in your "Waitin' Room Service" PSA and Lung Cancer Awareness Month campaign. I commend you for the song's lyrics about the dangers of lung cancer for women, including the importance of screenings and increased research funding. Unfortunately, the video also features "nurses" who offer sexual attention to the Dr. Lung Love character, caressing him and dancing suggestively with him. In one lyric, he informs us that the "nurse just left," so he'll "love your lungs tonight." The video reinforces the idea that masterful physicians handle important health matters, while cute nurse helpmates provide, well, waitin' room service. The video is a special insult to the oncology nurses who actually provide much of the care for cancer patients. I realize the video is a parody of Pitbull's "Hotel Room Service," and that the video is to some extent a "joke." But research shows that even jokes affect how people think and act. If they did not, you would not have made the video in the first place. The naughty nurse undermines real nurses' claims to adequate respect and resources at a time when nursing faces a global crisis. These are the same kind of resources required for cancer research. The nurses who fight cancer, and all other nurses, deserve better. So I urge you to end the video's use of this damaging imagery, and to apologize to the nursing profession. Thank you.