Brazil creates larger-than-life testicle mascot to promote cancer awareness

Brazil creates larger-than-life testicle mascot to promote cancer awareness

Senor TesticuloToward the end of the 1974 low-budget, offbeat comedy “The Groove Tube” is a scene in which a cartoony, bulbous-headed creature named Safety Sam lectures the audience about the link between causal sex and STDs. That the character’s noggin is actually an upside-down pair of real human testicles sporting Mr. Potato Head eyes dawns on most viewers after a moment or two. (I will leave it to readers’ imagination to guess the part of the male anatomy that forms Safety Sam’s nose.)

Give credit to Uranus Corporation, the film’s obscenely named invented sponsor. At least they were going for a joke, if an off-color one.

Not so Brazil’s Association of Personal Assistance for Cancer (AAPEC), which on Tuesday rolled out its new mascot, “Senhor Testiculo.” You probably don’t need Google Translate to figure out that the character is a larger-than-life human scrotum.

Senor Festiculo 2Senhor Testiculo was conceived to raise awareness about testicular cancer and methods of prevention. According to AAPEC’s website (in Portuguese), the mascot is meant to be seen as “a friendly snowman in the shape of [a] testicle.”

Fox News Latino cites statistics from the American Cancer Society indicating that testicular cancer claims the lives of approximately 400 men annually, adding:

In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of testicular cancer cases involving Hispanic males.

Even though non-Hispanic white males still have the highest overall occurrence rate at 8.6 per 100,000 individuals, according to a new report, Latino men are no longer trailing behind — with 6.3 incidences per 100,000 individuals.

Could that mean that Senhor Testiculo will be journeying north of the border to delight (if that is the correct word) Americans of all ages? We’ll keep you informed.

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Howard Portnoy

Howard Portnoy

Howard Portnoy has written for The Blaze, HotAir, NewsBusters, Weasel Zippers, Conservative Firing Line, RedCounty, and New York’s Daily News. He has one published novel, Hot Rain, (G. P. Putnam’s Sons), and has been a guest on Radio Vice Online with Jim Vicevich, The Alana Burke Show, Smart Life with Dr. Gina, and The George Espenlaub Show.

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