As Yuvraj's 'Check Your Oranges' Ad Creates A Storm, Know What Is 'Peau d'orange' In Terms Of Breast Cancer

The ad is captioned 'You We Can', a non-profit organisation founded by Yuvraj who battled cancer in 2011, shortly after the country's World Cup victory.

The ad shows a woman holding two oranges in a bus.

Source : X@Erroristotle

A breast cancer awareness campaign by former cricketer Yuvraj Singh's agency for Delhi Metro has taken the internet by storm as
the advertisement shows a young woman holding two oranges in a passenger bus. The ad is captioned 'You We Can', a non-profit organisation founded by Yuvraj who battled cancer in 2011, shortly after the country's World Cup victory. The ad reads 'Check Your Oranges' and asks women to do so once a month.

The ad is facing criticism from several Internet users who think it is "not appropriate" to use oranges to refer to breasts. However, some people pointed out that the ad draws reference from 'Peau d'Orange Breast', a symptom indicating aggressive inflammatory breast cancer.

What Is 'Peau d'Orange Breast'?

The National Cancer Institute explains the term as a dimpled condition of the skin of the breast, resembling the skin of an orange, sometimes found in inflammatory breast cancer.

Inflammatory breast cancer is a type of breast cancer in which the cancer cells block the lymph vessels in the skin of the breast. This causes the breast to look red and swollen. The skin may also appear dimpled or pitted, like the skin of an orange (peau d'orange), and the nipple may be inverted (facing inward), as per the cancer institute.

What Is The Controversy?

A social media user shared a picture of the poster on X and criticised it for the "poor" choice of words. "How will a country raise Breast Cancer Awareness is we can’t even call breasts what they are. Saw this at Delhi Metro and like what the hell? Check your oranges? Who makes these campaigns, who approves them? Are we governed by such dumb people that they let this poster become public?" the user said. 

Tagging the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, the user wrote, "This advertisement is one of the most tone deaf advertisements I have ever seen. Will you put up any advertisement if someone pays you? Please remove this. @YOUWECAN- get this off the metro. This advert is a no go." Another user commented that the "orange" reference is not new and advertisement companies have been using them for awareness or to depict signs and symptoms to the public.

No, not really, using Oranges has been a common thing for ads & for awareness programs to depict signs, symptoms and stages of breast cancer to the public.

The outrage seems silly.#BreastCancerAwarenessMonth#BreastCancerAwareness pic.twitter.com/L3ACqkXloD

— Lazarus (@Meitei_Lazarus4) October 22, 2024

A Tamil Nadu-bases doctor whose mother died of breast cancer said it should not be sexualised. "I have a problem with this ad at Delhi Metro. My own loving dear mother died of Breast Cancer, which was Stage 4 at diagnosis. The irony was her son(me) was a Breast Surgeon at that time, & out of modesty, she did not even tell her own son, when it was a small lump, that was potentially curable," he wrote on X.

I hv a problem with this ad at Delhi Metro. My own loving dear mother died of Breast Cancer, which was Stage 4 at diagnosis. The irony was her son(me) ws a Breast Surgeon at that time, & out of modesty, she did not even tell her own son, when it ws a small lump, that ws… pic.twitter.com/U32P2euu6Z

— Dr Jaison Philip. M.S., MCh (@Jasonphilip8) October 22, 2024

He added that there is nothing wrong in uttering the word breast in the context of Breast Cancer diagnosis and management.