Movember

Movember (a portmanteau of the Australian English word for moustache, "mo", and "November"), commonly known as No Shave November, is an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men's health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men's suicide. The Movember Foundation runs the Movember charity event, housed at Movember.com. The goal of Movember is to "change the face of men's health."

By encouraging men (whom the charity refers to as "Mo Bros") to get involved, Movember aims to increase early cancer detection, diagnosis and effective treatments, and ultimately reduce the number of preventable deaths. Besides annual check-ups, the Movember Foundation encourages men to be aware of family history of cancer and to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Since 2004, the Movember Foundation charity has run Movember events to raise awareness and funds for men's health issues, such as prostate cancer and depression, in Australia and New Zealand. In 2007, events were launched in Ireland, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Spain, the United Kingdom, Israel, South Africa, Taiwan and the United States. As of 2011, Canadians were the largest contributors to the Movember charities of any nation. In 2010, Movember merged with the testicular cancer event Tacheback.

In 2012, the Global Journal listed Movember as one of the world's top 100 NGOs (non-government organization).

History

Origins

Seven Nightly News aired a story in 1999 including a group of young men in Adelaide, South Australia who coined the term "Movember" and the idea of growing moustaches for charity throughout the month of November. In the news report, members of the Adelaide-based "Movember Committee" explained how they came up with the idea for Movember one night in the pub. The group started with 80 men from Adelaide and soon became a nationwide phenomenon. They also aimed to raise money for the RSPCA through selling T-shirts in what they termed "Growing whiskers for whiskers".

In 2004, an unrelated group in Melbourne, Victoria organised an event where 30 men would grow a moustache for 30 days in order to raise awareness for prostate cancer and depression in men. This group would later become the Movember Foundation charity.

The Movember Foundation has since raised $174-million worldwide, after spreading to South Africa and Europe, reaching North America in 2006. In 2010, participants in the United States alone raised over $7.5 million. In 2012, 1.1 million people signed up to participate, raising upwards of $95 million.

The Moscars

The charity launched The Moscars in 2010, an online global user-submitted video contest that helps Movember participants showcase their involvement in the movement. Submissions cannot be longer than 4 minutes each, and prizes can be won in several categories.

In 2012, head judge Stan Lee awarded the Moscar to South Africa's comedy duo Derick Watts and The Sunday Blues for their video, "The Movember Song", a parody of Carly Rae Jepsen's hit "Call Me Maybe".

International Man of Movember

The International Man of Movember is chosen from 21 national winners all over the world to wear the crown and be the face of Movember for a whole year. Each national Man of Movember winner is voted in at that particular country's main Gala Parté, held at the end of November, by both judges and fans.

The very first champion was Mark Knight from London in 2010. South Africa's Anton Taylor won the title in 2011, and in 2012 it was Chris Thwaites from New Zealand who won the coveted sash. 2013 saw Sweden's Tom Rickard crowned.

Controversies

In November 2007, at Scots College in Wellington, New Zealand, several graduating students were banned from end-of-year prizes for growing moustaches and the college threatened to ban a senior student from their National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) examinations (official secondary school qualification) for growing a moustache during November.

In 2007, the Movember Foundation events were featured on Australian tabloid current affairs program Today Tonight, which accused the foundation of spending a disproportionate amount on running costs and high salaries for its directors. The financial summary of the Australian 2008 Movember campaign listed campaign costs (administration and fundraising) as being 8% of the total amount raised. In 2007, campaign costs were listed as 9% of total amount raised.

Partners

In 2011, Google Chrome partnered with Movember to create a video. The video featured real participants, and how they utilize the web and Movember.com to raise awareness and funds for the cause. The video generated well over 1.1 million views. It featured the Handsome Furs song "Repatriated."

In 2010 and 2011, Movember partnered with TOMS to create limited edition Movember shoes for those participating.

In 2011, Qantas supported Movember by painting a moustache and "Movember.com" on one of its airplanes.

In 2011, the world's largest sandcastle Mo was built on Bondi Beach, in Sydney, New South Wales.

A 2012 Movember video featuring Parks and Recreation star Nick Offerman was one of the top 10 most watched charity videos of the year, with 1.9 million views. Offerman made additional sketches for Movember 2013.

Since 2012, Royal Mail has supported the Movember campaign and created a special postmark featuring a moustache.

In November 2013, the UK National Trust authorised the temporary placement of a huge grass moustache to the Cerne Abbas Giant, the UK's largest chalk hill figure. The moustache added to the Template:Convert giant. was Template:Convert wide and Template:Convert deep according to the designer but both the National Trust and the BBC reported it as being Template:Convert,

In 2015 Carlsberg Group beer brand made special Movember beer beauty accessories to look after mustaches and beard.

Ambassadors

Many high-profile athletes, celebrities, and dignitaries have supported the Movember Foundation, including Australian World Champion surfer Mick Fanning; author, columnist, and presenter Samantha Brett; Today sports presenter Cameron Williams; ex-Big Brother housemate Ryan Fitzgerald; Queensland cricket all-rounder Andrew Symonds; and several AFL players. NHL "tough guy" George Parros, alongside Bill McCreary, shaved his moustache to participate in the 2010 Movember event.

In 2009, many of the Australia national rugby union team|Australian rugby union team players were seen sporting moustaches during the Autumn internationals.Template:Synthesis inline 2009 F1 World Champion Jenson Button started his support for Movember by showing off his blond moustache at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.Template:Synthesis inline

Indian cricketers Ravindra Jadeja and Shikhar Dhawan support this cause tooTemplate:Citation needed.

In 2010, some of the Montreal Canadiens were seen sporting moustaches during the month of November, with a video appearing on the Canadiens homepage, thus confirming the worldwide spread of Movember.

2011 Movember Ambassadors included Foster the People, Morgan Spurlock, George Parros of the Anaheim Ducks, Snoop Dogg, Kevin Connolly (actor), Brody Jenner, Matt Leinart, Bloomberg TV's Matt Miller, Mr. Clean, UFC Lightweight Champ Frankie Edgar, and Philip Bloom (filmmaker).

South Africa's ambassador for Movember is rapper Jack Parow.

Movember is regularly supported by sporting organisations and celebrities in New Zealand, with names such as national rugby captain Richie McCaw actively involved in supporting the charity and cricketer Lockie Ferguson.

Charities

Since 2004, the Movember Foundation charity has used Movember to raise awareness and funds for men's health issues in Australia and New Zealand. Monetary proceeds go toward the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, the Cancer Society and Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand, and Beyond Blue.

In 2007, the Foundation launched campaigns in Canada (funds raised go to the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation of Canada), Spain (FEFOC), the United Kingdom Prostate Cancer UK, and the United States (the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Livestrong Foundation). In the US, Movember's men's health partners are The Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG.

In 2008, the Movember Foundation started the event in the Republic of Ireland. The beneficiary in that country is Action Prostate Cancer, an initiative of the Irish Cancer Society.

A non-foundation Movember event has been held in the Cayman Islands by a "MOvember Committee" since 2006. The event has been sponsored by CML Offshore Recruitment and raises funds for the Cayman Islands Cancer Society.

Video games

Players in Football Manager 2015 grow moustaches during the month of November.

FIFA 14 Ultimate Team features a Movember Cup.

Sony released a moustache sticker intended to be placed on the front of the DualShock 4 controller in support of Movember.

In November 2012, four Movember themed games were released as Google Chrome web apps.

Warframe also released a movember special with new mustaches each week for the players to equip on their frames in 2015

Similar events

• Since the Vietnam War era, U.S. Air Force members have participated in Mustache March, where Airmen grow moustaches in good-natured defiance of facial hair regulations during the month of March.
• In 2015, a Decembeard event promoted awareness of bowel cancer.

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