Moustaches were once a sign of masculinity and vigorous strength but in a time of sexual emancipation , they lost their original power. Thanks to the Movember campaign they gained a new and unexpected ‘curl’.
The Movember campaign made moustaches a symbolic way to support a campaign that raises public awareness of diseases that affect men, such as prostate cancer, and raises money to support research and prevention. Its popularity made the Movember’s campaign objective to raise awareness of men’s health issues, specifically cancers affecting men. The campaigners say: “We want everyone to know that most cancers are highly curable if caught in the early stages – including prostate and testicular cancer. Movember aims to increase early detection, diagnosis and effective treatment, as this will ultimately reduce the number of deaths from cancer.”
The campaign, which has no geographical limit, raised to date £76.6m in donations. The leaderboard shows that the country that managed to raise more money is, at the moment, Canada with £24m and approximately 250,000 registrations. United Kingdom is only second with £19m but with a greater number of registrations, which shows that the campaign has more popularity. Interestingly enough, even if the Movember campaign has supporters all over the world, the countries with the highest numbers of supporters are those with an Anglo-Saxon heritage.
Most of the concerns raised by the campaign are centered around one core concept which is the idea that “Knowledge is power and health is for life.” Prevention therefore seems to be the long-term investment that each of us has to do in order to prevent our health declining too rapidly. The Movember campaign therefore is centered around a list of things that we should do to prevent prostate cancer: “Know your family history. Be physically active. Don’t smoke. Eat a healthy diet. Stay at a healthy weight. Manage your stress. Drink alcohol only in moderation. Sleep well. Keep smiling.”
It is still possible to donate on the official website: http://uk.movember.com/. However, you can also decide to wear moustaches during November 2013 and help the organization raise money.
