A "confronting" bowel cancer awareness campaign will commence on Australian television early next year after it was launched Thursday.

Gut Foundation of Australia President Professor Terry Bolin said the campaign was deliberately hard-hitting.

"This campaign is confronting," Bolin said at the campaign launch.

"We want it to be front page news -- people should not die from bowel cancer."

The advertisement depicts a terrorist attack on Australian soiland people run in chaos and body bags are everywhere, representing casualties from bowel cancer.

The ad was justified by Australians' lack of understanding of a cancer which, if detected early, is usually curable, Bolin said.

He advised Australians to talk with their general practitioners (GPs) about having a test for the cancer which typically develops later in life, although one in 10 cases occur before the age of 50.

Bowel cancer is Australia's most common cause of cancer death in non smokers, with 13,500 cases diagnosed in 2006 and more than 3,800 deaths.

(Xinhua News Agency December 17, 2009)