A Kelowna middle school has banned students from wearing popular breast cancer awareness wristbands because they say the bracelets are inappropriate.

The bright green bracelets, which have the slogan 'I [love] boobies!' printed on them are part of a youth-oriented breast cancer awareness campaign by Keep A Breast Canada.

Springvalley Middle School banned the wristbands last month, because staff felt the language is inappropriate for teenagers, said School District 23 Superintendent Hugh Gloster.

"In a lot of cases with younger students the interest is not in the raising awareness around eradicating breast cancer, in actual fact it's more of a novelty item and it has caused distraction. It has also been offensive in some environments."

But students like Grade 9 student Jamie Crowley, say school officials are getting the message wrong.

"My grandma had breast cancer," she said. "It's good that all these people are buying these. It's more money towards breast cancer and more people can get cured."

She says teachers have told her to flip the bracelet over, or keep it in her locker. Other students have gotten detention for wearing the bracelets. She says most of the people she knows aren't wearing the bracelets to be controversial.

"Most of us are mature enough to handle it. We're not wearing them because they say 'boobies' on them. We're wearing them because they're for breast cancer."

Keep A Breast executive director Michelle Murray says the bracelets are intentionally targeted at a younger demographic to raise awareness about breast cancer.

"This is a younger demographic," said Murray. "It resonates with people who may not feel impacted by a pink ribbon."

"I always ask when I run into kids, 'Why do you wear them?' and a lot of the times, I'll get 'Because my mom had breast cancer,' or 'My grandmother died from breast cancer,' or 'My friend's mom...' Nine times out of 10, I'm getting kids who have been impacted somewhere along the line."