It’s pretty hard to miss the Movember campaign. It’s all over every mainstream media outlet as the annual “feel good” story about how society also cares about men’s issues. And the mainstream media milks it for every drop. After all, that one month of the year has to balance out the other 11 months when society really doesn’t give—“ahem”—a rat’s ass about men’s issues.
But with respect to Movember, the vehicle that briefly shines a spotlight on men’s issues, it might be a good idea to get some history on the campaign, to better appreciate the endeavor despite any “mainstream media agenda.”
Movember began in Australia, where, as is well known, the people there have an affinity for creating new lingo by abbreviating common words: they take the first part of a word and add an “o,” “ai,” “ie,” or “y.”(1) “Aussie” vernacular includes “barbie” for “barbecue,” “deli” for “delicatessen,” “footie” for “football,” and “selfie,” which has been embraced worldwide to mean a self-shot portrait photograph.(2) And, of course, “mo” for “mustache.”
It was November 30, 1999, when Jennifer Ashcroft of Seven Nightly News aired a report about a group of men who had coined the term “Movember” as an initiative to grow mustaches to raise money for charity. The idea was sparked in a pub over a few beers, and the original group of about 80 men from Adelaide soon garnered widespread support across Australia. They also used the slogan “Whiskers for Whiskers” to campaign for money for the Australian RSPCA.(3)
In 2004, an unrelated group out of Melbourne came up with the idea of 30 men growing a mustache for 30 days as a campaign to raise awareness about prostate cancer and male depression. It is this second group of men who would eventually become the Movember Foundation.
Things got rolling for the second group when Travis Garone and Luke Slattery were talking over a beer at a local Melbourne bar. Their conversation turned to 1970s fashion trends and how most things that go out of style eventually come back into style—with the exception, so far, of the mustache. They ended their evening agreeing to do whatever they could to help the mustache make a comeback. Through their joking, and the inspiration of a friend’s mother who was fundraising for breast cancer, came the idea to grow mustaches as a charity fundraiser. Recognizing that there was no charitable agency specifically for men’s health issues, Garone did some research and discovered that prostate cancer was the male equivalent of breast cancer in terms of the statistical comparisons. For that reason, prostate cancer was selected as the primary beneficiary of their charitable enterprise.(3)
Official rules were created and are still in effect today: no head starts are allowed, and beards and goatees do not count; mustaches are used to initiate conversations about prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men’s mental health issues; and participants help raise funds for one or more of these concerns and are to comport themselves as true gentlemen throughout the campaign.(5) Participants are called “Mo Bros,” and female supporters are “Mo Sistas.” Movember’s goal and slogan is to “change the face of men’s health.”
Garone made a call to the CEO of the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, telling him that his idea would not only transform the organization but also become a substantial fundraiser. A meeting between the two men was set up in Melbourne. At the meeting, Garone outlined his plan to convince men across Australia to grow a mustache during November to raise money and awareness for the cause and then get together at month’s end for a mustache-themed party to celebrate life and change the face of men’s health. The CEO looked at Garone and laughed, saying, “Adam, that’s a really novel idea, but we’re an ultra-conservative organization. We can’t have anything to do with you.” Garone picked up the tab, and as they shook hands before parting, the CEO said, “Listen, if you happen to raise any money out of this, we’ll gladly take it.”(3)
Despite the meeting’s outcome, Garone said that the lesson he learned was about persistence. He and the other founders pressed forward with their plan and were able to increase their “Mo Bro” numbers to 450, raising $54,000 in 2004 and donating every cent to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, the largest single donation the PCFA had received to that date. According to Garone, “From that day forward, my life has become about a mustache.”
The campaign picked up more support the following year, spreading to New Zealand. In 2006, Garone said it reached a pivotal point where the campaign was consuming most of their time. They either needed to shut it down or take it to the next level by creating a way for him to quit his job and dedicate his full attention to the charity.
They decided to seek sponsorships; however, the concept of funding a charity based on mustaches was not an easy sell. Even the Prostate Cancer Foundation (to whom they had already donated approximately $1.2 million) was still not ready to commit.
It wasn’t until Foster’s Brewing came on board that they received their first corporate shot in the arm, which was enough for Garone to leave his job and commit full-time to the campaign. However, by November 2006, the Fosters money had been depleted, as well as their personal funds, and after convincing their suppliers to delay all billing until December, they were approximately $600,000 in debt. Had the 2006 Movember campaign stalled or failed, the original founders would have been bankrupt. Luckily, it was another resounding success.
In early 2007, they began to receive emails from the U.K., Canada, and the U.S. expressing interest in establishing Movember in these countries since no other organization existed to raise funds for prostate cancer.
Garone and the other founders decided to move Movember onto an international scale. Garone cold-called the CEO of Prostate Cancer Canada and arranged a meeting in Toronto. As Garone recounted, after he explained his vision, the CEO looked at him, laughed, and said, “Adam, this sounds like a really novel idea….” Garone thought to himself, “I’ve heard this before. I know how it goes.” But to his surprise, the CEO then announced, “We will partner with you, but we’re not going to invest in it. You need to figure a way to bring this campaign across here and make it work.”(3)
Under the assumption that if the campaign worked in the new countries they would be able to raise significantly larger amounts of funding for the cause, they decided to invest some of the capital they had from the Australian campaign to finance a kickoff in the U.K., U.S., and Canada.
Hyped by their success in Australia, the Movember campaign was brought to North America in 2007. Despite their enthusiasm, it was not as successful as they had hoped, but Garone said that that year really taught them “the importance of being patient and really understanding the local market before you become so bold as to set lofty targets.”(3)
In subsequent years, however, Movember has truly become an international movement. In 2010, Movember had more than 450,000 participants and raised $77 million. It is now the largest funding organization for prostate cancer and support programs in the world.
Since 2004, the Movember Foundation has raised over $174 million and spread to South Africa, Europe, the United States, Canada, and, more recently, Ireland.(4) In 2010, in the United States alone, more than $7.5 million was raised.
Now all that is left for Movember to achieve truly equal status with Breast Cancer Awareness Month is for the NFL and other major league sports to embrace it with the same seriousness that they do the breast cancer initiative. There should be no reason for not wholeheartedly getting involved.
1) Ashecroft, J. (30 November 1999) Seven Nightly News: Movember – Mo-Phenomenon,
Channel 7, Adelaide, Australia, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPH0qQFqs0M.
2) Young, E. (2 August 2010) Australian Geographic: Why We Shorten Babrie, Footy and Arvo, http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2010/08/why-we-shorten-barbie,-footy-and-arvo/.
3) Garone, Adam (November 2011). “Healthier men, one moustache at a time” (Video with transcript). TED.com (in English, subtitles available). TED Conferences, LLC. Retrieved November 2014. https://www.ted.com/talks/adam_garone_healthier_men_one_moustache_at_a_time?language=en.
4) Flandez, Raymund (2011-11-13). “Charity Tries New Messages and Logos Every Year -Marketing and Communications – The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas.” Philanthropy.com. http://philanthropy.com/article/Charity-Tries-New-Messages-and/129716/.
5) http://us.movember.com/get-involved/therules.
