Larco Museum let visitors touch its ancient erotic ceramics to teach cancer self-checks

A museum where nothing may be touched, a record cancer figure nobody was discussing, and a need to teach men self-examinations and regular check-ups.

Larco Museum — home to Peru's most important collection of pre-Inca erotic 'huacos' — joined Liga Contra el Cáncer and Fahrenheit DDB Perú to allow visitors, for the first time in the museum's history, to touch its most emblematic pieces. A film about the action was produced through Canica, directed by Gonzalo Iglesias, with creative leads Ricardo Chadwick and Sergio Franco Tosso.

The report gives no measured results. The stated aim was to grab the attention of all media and, above all, to save lives through education on self-examinations and regular check-ups.

For the first time in its history, Lima's Larco Museum allowed visitors to touch its most emblematic pieces: pre-Inca ceramics sculpted in the shape of male genitalia, more than 1,500 years old. The museum, which holds Peru's most important collection of erotic 'huacos' and ranks among the world's top museums on TripAdvisor, joined forces with the cancer charity Liga Contra el Cáncer and agency Fahrenheit DDB Perú for the action.

Peru had just recorded more than 10,000 cases of prostate, testicular and penile cancer in a single year — a historic figure that had gone unmentioned on social networks and in mass media. The partners used the forbidden-touch moment to pull that conversation into the open and educate the population on self-examinations and regular check-ups.

The work was produced as a film by production company Canica, directed by Gonzalo Iglesias, under chief creative officer Ricardo Chadwick and executive creative director Sergio Franco Tosso. LBB reported the campaign in March 2022; no measured outcomes are given in the report.

Museums' untouchable art is a universally understood rule, so breaking it is instantly newsworthy.

The exhibits' erotic shapes made the leap to genital health feel natural rather than squeamish.

The record 10,000-case figure gave the action a concrete public-health stake beyond publicity.

Inviting people to handle 1,500-year-old objects reframed self-examination as care, not embarrassment.

A rule everyone knows — do not touch — is the cheapest prop available: suspending it turns a health message into a story media outlets retell for free.

LBB reported the campaign on 29 March 2022 and credited the full creative, account and production team. The source gives no follow-up uptake figures, coverage counts or health outcomes.