Ready, Set, Grow. Its Time for Movember
The month of November as of the past few years has been known as “Movember”, or more commonly referred to as no shave November. This trend is similar to how October is breast cancer awareness month, but instead of showing off pink ribbons, men all over the world grow mustaches because that’s the manlier thing to do. Movember is a time for men to grow facial hair, specifically mustaches to help raise awareness for men’s health issues such as prostate cancer and depression.
The idea of Movember originated in Australia in November of 1999 after a news story was aired about a group of men growing mustaches for charity. This group of men was called the “Movember Committee”, and they came up with the idea for this one night at a bar. The group created the term Movember by simply combining the Australian spelling of mustache (moustache) and November.
The Movember Committee had about 80 members and word spread like wildfire. Before long Movember became a national phenomenon and men all over the country were growing mustaches in support of the cause. One way they were able to raise money was by selling shirts.
A similar group formed in 2004, and their goal was to raise awareness specifically for prostate cancer and depression in men by growing mustaches for 30 days, which was more specific than what the Movember Committee was doing. The “Movember Foundation Charity” as they were named has raised roughly $175 million worldwide in the past 10 years since they have spread to South Africa, Europe, and North America.
The Movember Foundation Charity has grown substantially over the last few years, and has raised a great deal of money. In 2010, over $7.5 million was raised in the United States, and in 2012, 1.1 million people signed up to participate and they raised almost $100 million.
Much of the Movember notoriety has been due to men having fun with it. To any guy, growing facial hair is an awesome way to show support for a great cause. Many well-known athletes, celebrities, and public figures have shown their support, and this attributes to much of the success of Movember. The internet and Social media have had a helping hand in the growth of Movember over the past few years. All throughout November, you will see pictures of guys showing off the mustaches they have grown, and people will put mustaches on random objects.
Movember has been a great way to help raise awareness for men’s issues, particularly prostate cancer and depression. It has not been until recent that these issues have been brought to people’s attention, and although better late than never, I believe more people should have been aware of this sooner. According to cancer.org, more than 30,000 men will die of prostate cancer this year. So when you see people with some nice mustaches this month, now you know why. For more information about Movember, be sure to check out us.movember.com.
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