Although we are now one charity 'Asthma and Lung UK'.
For Health Unlocked we decided to keep this as the 'Asthma Community Forum' - so all things asthma!!
For all other lung conditions on Health Unlocked please join our other forum: healthunlocked.com/asthmalu...
The helpline number is 0300 222 5800 and our website is asthmaandlungsuk.org.uk.
I have posted the below on what was British Lung Foundation site. I have asthma/COPD overlap and am not impressed with what has been done. See below
I am far from happy or impressed with this decision. I believe it dilutes both BLF and Asthma UK. The logo is poor and the name is even worse. Type of name a child would come up with and I imagine that some “clever” people took months to decide this.
In view of fact that WE are the ones with the conditions and organisations are meant to speak for us am, very very disappointed at lack of consultancy from British Lung Foundation and asthma uk site.
I know that what myself and others feel won’t come in to the equation but just wanted to express my feelings. I DO have an understanding of 2 charities coming together but believe that this rebranding is poor especially to those who do not have asthma.
Certainly on former BLF site there are people (as am I ) expressing their negative opinions.
I am only in asthma as that is my illness. I tried to find the former BLF site with little effect, my poor search more like. I aggre the branding the is child like. It look likes two plasters. I'm now wondering about donations 🤔 are the for the joint charity now.
Lung conditions community forum is now where you will find British Lung Foundation….
I have just emailed them direct, but thank you for your help.
I hadn’t even realised it was a sticking plaster 🙄
It's the Fighting for Breath that really is unbelievably crass on both sites.
The cross logo is too religious (whether it's elastoplastor otherwise), not a good look for the many non-Christian members from all over the world
The cross logo is used widely to indicate medical aid, so it's quickly recognised as a place to be able to seek medical help. British Red Cross, first aid boxes & personnel and pharmacies all use red or green cross logos. In conflict zones the red cross on vehicles, buildings, tents and personnel indicate their role and is a way to avoid them being a target as well as a quick way of identifying them in chaos.
To me the new logo is not crucifix in dimension at all and reflects the medical aid symbol dimensions as used in the UK. After all, this charity is UK based and funded so using the UK medical cross symbol is positive branding for being able to seek medical assistance and advice.
Hi Everyone,
Thank you for all your feedback on our new strategy and look. We really value all comments about our work as it helps us to make sure that we remain relevant and engaging for the people we support. You can also contact our Supporter Care team via info@asthmaandlung.org.uk if you have more feedback that you would like to share.
This is the final part of the journey we began in 2020 when Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation joined forces. Together, we are now a more powerful force for lung health, twice the passion, twice the power, one united voice. Having a bold new strategy and look will help us to raise awareness of the seriousness of lung conditions and tackle misconceptions, invest in even more ground-breaking research, support more people through our helpline, health advice and support groups, and campaign for change to improve the lives of everyone with a lung condition.
We are sorry you feel like you weren’t consulted first. Whilst we’d have liked to speak to everyone connected to us directly that’s not always possible. Rest assured though we didn’t just do this on our own – we consulted over a thousand people as part of this process, the majority of which had a lung condition. Their views and opinions directly shaped our strategy, new name and look because it’s so important to us to put people with lung conditions at the heart of what we do. We know not everyone will be happy with our new look (after all, everyone is different) but we hope you’ll be behind what we are trying to achieve together. If you’d like to get involved, you can sign up to our Respiratory Voices Network here. Opportunities might include completing short surveys, attending focus groups or trialing the latest products to help people manage their lung condition.
Asthma + Lung UK was chosen as we wanted a name that represented everyone with asthma and all lung conditions so that they would know that the charity is there to support and fight for them. We also wanted to show that we represented all four nations of the UK and a name that could easily explain what we do and who we do it for.
Nothing has changed in the services we provide. We will always be there with advice, information, and a listening ear to help people manage their lung condition and live well. You can call us with any questions or concerns you have about your lung condition, no matter how big or small. Our helpline team are available on 0300 222 5800 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).
We will be fighting for a world where everyone can breathe with healthy lungs, this will include policy work on a whole range of lung conditions – COPD, flu and the impact of COVID-19 to name a few. But this bold vision will also require us to do more to look at the huge issues facing people with all lung conditions and holding back progress on lung health, including air pollution, barriers to diagnosis, health inequalities and NHS workforce.
We will continue to raise awareness of the seriousness of all lung conditions and challenge misconceptions and accelerate research so that across the UK £150 million is invested into finding better treatments and cures for lung conditions from the public purse. We will campaign to ensure everyone can breathe clean air, and that people with a lung condition can access the care, information and support they need to help manage their illness. We want to cut the numbers of people needing emergency hospital treatment and dying from lung disease. We will always be here to fight for your right to breathe.
Asthma + Lung UK is the UK charity fighting for everyone with a lung condition.
Fighting is such a triggering word, I’d much rather have support.
I think the new name is a bit weird too - if I had another lung condition (and didn't have asthma) and saw 'Asthma and Lung UK' it wouldn't occur to me that this was a charity which could help me - it sounds as if it is a charity that purely with lung health for people with asthma. It would surely have been better to come up with a single-word name (as 'Perennial' or 'Thrive' or 'Mind' have done) and have a tagline that explains the charity is for all lung conditions.
And the rebranded website looks a bit Mickey Mouse - the Asthma UK site looked really professional, but this looks more like the website of a local support group, not a national charity. I hope they can tweak the rebrand to reflect the professionalism of the charity's work. If these changes had happened a couple of months back, when I was looking for support as a newly diagnosed asthmatic, I suspect I would have completely bypassed the website - and missed out on some incredible support from the asthma UK helpline as a result.
Here’s a story. I had my broadband with plusnet and wanted faster speeds so changed to ee (BT was too expensive) During my exploration of things when it all went wrong, I found that BT, Plusnet and ee are all the same company trading under different names. What has this got to do with anything I hear you ask. Well if BT can trade under at least 3 names, why can’t asthma U.K. and the British Lung Foundation continue to raise money and awareness under separate brands while joining forces to fund research?
As for public statements “two of Britains leading charities” carries more weight than one in public statements. Plus people may be inclined to donate to both, raising twice the income.
There was a post on the former BLF forum from admin this morning which more or less said there will be no change ( the same as has been posted below). It said that 1000 members had been consulted but no one has said that they were.
Many of us there are unhappy and feel that The British Lung Foundation like the former Asthma UK was much more professional.
Yes, The British Lung Foundation & Asthma UK were both highly professional, well respected organisations, I can’t imagine what’s possessed them to throw it all away. It’s not as if asthma isn’t a lung condition, surely they could just become part of the BLF, especially as many of us have more than one lung condition. 🤷♀️
Sadly, the powers that be are not interested in listening, so there’s nothing we can do. 😢
On the lung forum the ability to reply to the admin post today was turned off which really says it all. We just hope that the support for members of both forums continues in the way it always has, invaluable to all concerned.
I instantly got the medical cross. Not sure about the colours and only the brand team could explain that one. They're lovely colours though but not sure what message is being conveyed, unless they wanted to stick with the Asthma UK purple pallette. At this stage it's all academic as the logo has been chosen and as long as the charity continues its work that's probably the most important thing and something we can continue to support.
“unless they wanted to stick with the Asthma UK purple”… well yes, of course this is why purple has been chosen, no “unless” about it. If they wanted a complete re-brand, why use the colour of only one of the charities? Personally I don’t like purple actually, it’s traditionally the colour of grief and mourning. A colour associated with hope would’ve been much more appropriate
I was always taught that only royalty were legally allowed to wear purple in Britain, funny how we perceive colours differently. I've never associated purple with either death or mourning, but then I come from an Irish background so black is our colour of bereavement even though the priest's vestments would be purple for the requiem mass (also the colour for Lent and Advent). Personally I love yellow as it's so bright and positive, but Marie Curie UK have already cornered that one. What colour would you have chosen?
Ooh, yellow & green maybe? I love yellow too. Yes, black is the colour of deep mourning but after 6 months or so widows would change to purple, and then mauve and so on. I don’t like the association with religion either. But the colour is just personal choice, it’s the other factors which really bother me. And the fact the charity has said they want feedback, but that’s not really true.
Colour is so impactful and can be linked to emotional events too. Feedback after the event is too late to impact the decision making process and just highlights the fact that supporters are locked out of that process. Maybe if a shortlist of branding ideas had been put to a vote for a short period of time and the most popular chosen by ALUK would have been a sure fire way of securing support for the rebranding. Oh well, lesson learned 🤔?
Exactly, they could’ve carried supporters with them had they been more inclusive and transparent. Surely, the imposition of a rebrand is a very dated way of going about things. Newer, European organisations, such as the ERS/ELF, are so different. This seems very autocratic in comparison.
I experienced a merger at work and it didn't go well for majority, the rebranding exercise became the vocal point for our angst and dissatisfaction. Much as we question the rebranding of ALUK here, no doubt the staff and volunteers of both charities have had to bear greater inconvenience and change than us. I suspect they read our comments and are thinking, "how do you think we feel" while having to promote it. I doubt they've had any input either, despite being the backbone of the outfit.
Yes, perhaps we’ve all been stitched up by the marketing company! I dread to think how much they’ve charged for all this. No doubt we’ll find out in the next Charity Commission accounts.
I hope it’s worth it, though rebrands can be precarious. RNID, which I support, rebranded a few years ago to Action on Hearing Loss, but had to go back to RNID. And I recently discovered Leukaemia Research is now known as Blood Cancer UK (via a failed rebrand to Bloodwise.) It can be very confusing.
Puts me in my of the W1A episode where Siobhán, brand consultant, is rebranding the BBC logo as her team believe there's a problem with the logo and their conclusion is that there are too many letters in it. Loved W1A as is was like a parallel universe to our own experiences at work, right down to having named rooms, "we're meeting in Frankie Howerd" or a new promotion for someone senior so they can be "Director of Better".
I doubt I will stop referring to ALUK as Asthma UK, evenafter this debate. But more than anything, I would be extremely aggrieved if money had been wasted on a consultancy firm and the new logo, when it could have been better spent on research. On the upside, there's only one CEO salary to pay since the merger.
I take your point on the CEO but am willing to bet money WAS wasted which could’ve been spent on research. We’ll never know, until the charity accounts are published anyway, as there’s been a distinct lack of transparency about all this, eg no response to any points made here or on the Lung Communities forum (which has been much more vocal.)
You must’ve liked The Thick of It too, I’m guessing. Servant of the People is on 4 later tonight. Very well reviewed, and will be an interesting watch I think
Shall definitely give Servant of the People a try. Just watching The Ipcress File - enjoying it far more than I expected to. Thank you for the recommendation.
Hanne62, just watched the first 3 episodes of Servant of the People, absolutely loved it. It would have passed me by if you hadn't recommended it. Zelenskyy is a remarkable man.
Yes, an unassuming man of many talents. I loved it too, though it’s very sad to see Kyiv as it was, compared with what we’re seeing now.
I don't like the strapline either. When I was diagnosed it was because I was coughing. I'm lucky as I never have to fight for breath, but I have to fight to stop coughing. I know I'm not alone with my cough variant asthma.
I personally am not keen on the new logo Its hard to read and I think the pink makes it look tacky. Also how do we know if someone is posting from asthma UK if we were on both forums. Was much better before
I am a member of both sites, As I have had non cf bronchiectasis since birth and in later years asthma, although I usually contribute on the former BLF.
There have been numerous concerns on As was BLF. It was stated that many were consulted but we don’t know of any and the organisation appears not to want to tell us. This has been foisted upon us. Most folks dislike the FIGHTING FOR BREATH strap and personally that makes me feel even more ill. They also dislike the logo which looks like two sticking plasters. The name has upset many as Asthma (a condition) + lungs (an organ not a condition in itself) Asthma+Lungs relegates many serious lung conditions as lesser important.
The original Asthma logo was very identifiable and the red balloons full of air much more positive.
Many are sad about the lack of transparency and inclusion in this rebrand.
Cx
Hi Claire and ALUK_Nurses. There are many of us who are also donors of BLF, because we have multiple, complex lung conditions in addition to asthma, and who are pretty fed up at the way our interests have been marginalised here (to the extent we’re not even allowed to reply to your identical post on the BLF forum!) So much for wanting feedback…
You say over 1,000 people were consulted. Where were their names obtained? How many were supporters of BLF? Wouldn’t it have been more inclusive to email all members, or appeal for feedback on the forum as you usually do?
I’m not happy with the name, Asthma+ with LungUK on the next line as an afterthought. It’s nonsensical - last time I checked, asthma was an illness and lung was an organ - and it gives priority to just one condition over all others. If you were going to rebrand, why not choose a name which encompasses ALL lung conditions? And why use the colour purple, long associated with Asthma UK?
As it stands, most people will probably continue to refer to the charity as “AsthmaUK”, which I suspect is probably the intention.
Also, could you explain what the two strips of Elastoplast are meant to signify?
And the slogan “Fighting for Breath” actually makes me feel wheezy. Too close to home I’m afraid. and totally insensitive. Only someone who’s never actually done so could’ve thought it appropriate!
Well said Hanne. I wouldn’t hold your breath (if you could of course) expecting any answers from any representative from ALUK.
Cx 🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈missing our red balloon!
No, I’m sure you’re right, they just see us as old biddies who hate any change & don’t have much to offer, even though we’ve supported these charities all our lives! X
Old biddies with a wealth of experience of a lifetime living with very serious lung conditions. We know what would attract newbies to a site where they would feel they could gain information and support. We are also not naive enough to realise that a site must also be easily recognisable and appealing to the normally fit and well with regard to funding. I can’t in all honestly say this new site does either. Time will tell as I guess we’re stuck with it.💕💕
Oh yes, it’s clear we’re stuck with it. Lip service has been paid to the notion of feedback, but we’re not fools. Turning off responses to Claire’s post on the other forum, before anyone had said a word, told us exactly how welcome our feedback is. That was just rude and offensive.
Not the best way to win friends and influence funding.Xxx
Asthma attack advice
