When she was editor of The Australian Women's Weekly, Ita Buttrose was approached to help spread the word about breast health to the women of western Sydney.
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So, in keeping with the population at the time, she printed a message about the importance of women checking their breasts for irregularities - and printed an Italian translation next to it to hit the target market.
Only problem was a toy company owner was so upset his full page ad had been placed next to the Italian translation that he wanted his money back or a free ad.
"I said, 'Alright, if that's want you want. But do you think Italian people don't buy toys for their children, is that what you're thinking?'. I said, 'I will give you a 'make good' but I'll also be publishing your letter in the magazine'. I had no further problems," Ms Buttrose said, to great laughter from her audience.
"So even when you're campaigning for something like breast cancer, you can run into obstacles when you least expect it. And I've never really stopped because I just know how important it is for women to check their breasts on a regular basis."
The plain-speaking, no-rubbish Ms Buttrose, 74, was guest speaker at the second annual Pink Lady luncheon to be held in Canberra for Breast Cancer Network Australia.
She is an ambassador for BCNA, which helps patients and their families make informed decisions about treatment, connect with others and share their experience. This year alone more than 15,900 Australian women and 150 men are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer.
"The important thing for people who've had a diagnosis of breast cancer is to know the BCNA is there and it offers support and it offers services so you don't go through the journey alone," she said.
"Because you do need to talk to people about how you're feeling. You're going to have good days and bad days and you have to remain optimistic.
"If someone has had breast cancer ahead of you, they understand your emotions and they'll help you through."
Canberra-based BCNA board member Megan James, also spoke at the lunch in the Gandel Hall of the National Gallery, about her experience of being diagnosed with breast cancer - twice.
She was 30 when she was diagnosed the first time in 1996 by chance after a reading a book balanced on her chest and feeling something not quite right. The cancer was detected again16 years later during a regular check-up.
Ms James said during her first diagnosis she was made to feel "like a lump" by health professionals; in her second, in 2012, things had changed. She felt "like a woman, an educated woman", as her treatment was undertaken with much more finesse and care.
"Everything was just very clinical during the first experience. In the second, they treated you like a person, a human being," she said.
The general manager of Australian Data Centres, Ms James lives in Campbell with her husband David and their sons, Griffin, 12; and Dylan, 10.
She says she is "optimistic but very cautiously so" about her future. She has faith in the BCNA as a great advocacy and lobbying resource, with more than 110,000 members.
"We can be passionate and we can be very annoying but we get things done," she said.
Among those attending the luncheon were Canberra's McGrath breast care nurse, Kerryn Ernst, and some of her patients battling metastatic breast cancer.
