Of Moustaches and Men: A History of Movember

One in every seven men is affected by prostate cancer according to the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Every November, the Movember Foundation encourages men across the world to raise awareness of issues like prostate cancer that affect men’s health. How? By encouraging men to grow moustaches.

Movember – a portmanteau of “mo,” an Australian slang term for moustache; and “November” – has grown significantly from its humble Aussie origins. The Movember Foundation’s official tagline is “changing the face of men’s health,” and they appear to be succeeding. Partnering with organizations across 21 countries, the Movember Foundation has raised a total of $570 million from its establishment in 2004 to last year’s November. Supporters of Movember are collectively and endearingly referred to as “Mo Bros and Mo Sistas.”

The funds raised during Movember go towards increasing early cancer detection and diagnosis as well as developing more effective cancer treatments. The foundation also encourages men to be aware of their families’ medical histories, get tested regularly for prostate and other male cancers, and generally adopt more healthy lifestyles. Though an emphasis is placed on prostate cancer, the Movember Foundation also raises funds and awareness for mental health issues, partnering with organizations such as beyondblue, an Australian initiative to address issues caused by depression and anxiety.

Drunken Philanthropists: The Origin of Movember

The earliest documented use of the term “Movember” comes from a 1999 report on Seven News, known at the time as Seven Nightly News. In a pub in Adelaide, South Australia, a few men joked about growing moustaches for charity, albeit for quite a different cause. Coining the term “Movember,” the joke became a mission, and the small group grew to over 80 people. This “Movember Committee” aimed to raise money for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals by selling T-shirts and “growing whiskers for whiskers,” as they called it.

It wasn’t until 2003 when Movember once again marked the calendar. Unrelated to the “Movember Committee”, another group of friends were drinking at a bar, bemoaning how the “mo” had gone out of style, and wondering if they could bring it back. Inspired by fundraising efforts to combat breast cancer, the group agreed on a small goal: convince 30 men to grow their moustaches for the 30 days of November to raise awareness for prostate cancer. No funds were raised, but their simple success encourage the group to continue their efforts.

In 2004, the total proceeds from the year’s Movember, just over $50 000, were donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA), despite the organization having refused partnership with the campaign beforehand. The amount was the largest single-donation that the PCFA had ever received. The next year, PCFA became Movember’s first official men’s health partner, and Movember raised over $1 million.

In 2006, the Movember Foundation was granted charity status in Australia, giving the mo-vement its current name. The foundation’s efforts also expanded to New Zealand, partnering with the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand. It was this year that beyondblue became the second Australian partner of the Movember Foundation. After only four Novembers, nearly $10 million had been raised for men’s health – and it all started with 30 dudes growing facial hair.

International Expansion: “Mo Man is an Island”

Moving into 2007, Movember continued to expand internationally. Under the concept “Mo man is an island: Mindset, Journey, Destination,” Movember partnered with charities such as Prostate Cancer Canada and events were launched in Canada, US, UK, and Spain. Now campaigning in six countries, the Movember Foundation once again dramatically increased its success, raising a total of $21.5 million. The next year, Ireland was on board via the Irish Cancer Society.

By 2009, the foundation raised over $96 million. Meanwhile, results from these funds were beginning to become evident: through Movember funding, the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center identified over 25 different types of prostate cancer and classified them based on their aggressiveness. In 2011, Movember contributed $15 million to the Canadian Prostate Cancer Genome Network project. Projects such as these aim to explore the biology and genetics behind prostate cancer, and their results can hopefully be used to develop better methods for preventing, detecting and treating the disease.

The success of the Movember movement also began to receive widespread recognition around the same time period. In both 2011 and 2012, the Global Journal ranked the Movember Foundation in their list of the top 100 NGOs in the world. GQ Men of the Year 2013 awarded the Social Force of the Year award to the Movember Team.

Growing Forward

As of last year, there were 4 million Mo Bros and Mo Sistas, and 800 programs across the world received funding raised by the Movember Foundation. Campaigns such as Movember and the recent ALS Ice Bucket Challenge demonstrate that innovative, fun, and somewhat strange approaches to charity can be incredibly successful both in raising funds and creating awareness. The growth of Movember since 2003 speaks for itself.

So if you are in any way repulsed by a boyfriend’s, friend’s, co-worker’s, or even stranger’s recent upper lip fuzz this month, remember what it stands for. Respect that Mo Bro, and remember that mo mos, mo money. This means mo money to help address a lot of problems affecting men’s health.

If you want to get involved, donate, or learn more about Movember, visit movember.ca