'What's Up Your Butt?' Billboards Scrapped

I figured this was a good cause you could get behind.

It's official. Really, really official.

The "What's up your butt?" colon cancer awareness billboards won't be coming to the Tri-Cities.

Health board members -- who also are the Benton and Franklin county commissioners -- voted 5-0 on Wednesday to reverse a vote last month allowing the Benton Franklin Health District's name to be used on the controversial advertisements.

Board member Leo Bowman was absent.

The board unanimously agreed April 20 to allow the district's name to be used on the billboards, which would have been paid for by the Yakima Health District with grant money leftover from its own campaign.

But the next day, after receiving complaints from residents who thought the ads were in poor taste, Board Chairman Jim Beaver said he wanted to rescind the vote.

The campaign included billboard advertisements showing people with pained expressions and the phrase, "What's up your butt?"

It's designed to be an in-your-face way of raising awareness about the dangers of colorectal cancers and the need for people to get screened for the disease.

Now they may not find what's up your butt until it's too late.