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Building awareness through underwear

Can warning labels ever go too far?

And I thought the “WARNING: HOT” label on fast-food coffee cups was over the top.

This is one of my favorite examples of the lengths companies must take in this day and age to avoid being sued, although I believe this one came after McDonald’s actually lost a lawsuit when a woman burned herself after putting a cup of coffee between her legs to remove the lid.

I guess printing that coffee is indeed served hot on every cup will stop that from ever happening again. Right…

This is bad enough, and Forbes featured an article featuring other hilarious “warning” labels earlier this year,  but Brazil has found a way to take it to the next level.

Why stop at warning consumers about the “dangers” of the product that they're using? Let’s turn undergarments into billboards.

According to Ad Age, Brazil’s Congress just passed a bill that all underwear sold in the country must carry warnings about common forms of cancer and advice on sexual practices.

Men’s underwear will alert wearers about the importance of prostate exams for men over 40, while panties will feature labels championing the use of condoms to prevent cervix uterus cancer and the importance of periodical exams to detect the disease.

While they’re at it, Congress figured bras should also recommend and explain how to perform a breast self-exam.

The bill, already approved by the Senate, was given the thumbs up by the Chamber of Deputies' Constitution and Justice Commission, so to become law it just needs President Dilma Rousseff’s signature.

This comes after the bill was first introduced in 1999 – yes they’ve been tinkering with it for about 12 years – by now retired congressman Barbosa Neto.

To his credit, back then, the messaging only revolved around getting regular preventive tests, and not the aforementioned warnings and reference to condoms featured today.

So, based on what I’ve seen on the beach, where are these epic labels supposed to go?

Legislators decided that labels are too small for these “War and Peace” style PSAs, so they added an amendment to the bill allowing companies to print these warnings on packaging instead.

What if manufacturers dare to refuse? Punishments can vary from a warning, I assume not stitched on their underwear, to having their operating license suspended.

Yikes, quite a blow to Brazil’s underwear industry, which according to AdAge had no fewer than 6,000 manufacturers and sales of $3.36 billion last year.

Brazil’s underwear lobby really needs to step it up, though think of the precedent this sets for future advertising and strategic partnership opportunities.

Could the inside of our clothing look like a race car one day?

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