Movember

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Movember (a portmanteau of the words 'Moustache' and 'November') is an annual month-long event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November. The event originates from Australia.^{[citation needed]}

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 Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Contents 1 Origins 2 Charity events 3 Controversy 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Origins

Seven Nightly News aired a story in 1999 featuring "a group of young Adelaide men" who claimed to have come up with idea of growing moustaches for charity in what "snowballed into a Mo-phenomenon, with people across Australia joining up".^[1]

In the news report, members of the Adelaide-based "Movember Committee" explained how they came up with the idea of for Movember one night in the pub. The group was said to have 80 men from Adelaide and interstate involved in the event, and aimed to raise money for the RSPCA through selling T-shirts in what they termed "Growing whiskers for whiskers"^[1].

The report also featured backlash that the Committee had reportedly received from the San Francisco-based "Moustache Celebration Federation", a group that was claiming they had patented the term "Movember" in 1977.^[1] The Committee's website states that upon following up on these legal threats it was discovered that neither The Federation, nor its alleged president, "Charles Kies III", really existed. The Committee still holds their claims of having invented Movember in 1999 are "100% true".^[2].

[edit] Charity events

Since 2004, the Movember Foundation charity has used Movember to raise awareness and funds for men's health issues in both Australia and New Zealand. Monetary proceeds going towards Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand and Beyond Blue^[3][4]

In 2007 the Foundation launched events in Canada (funds raised to the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation of Canada^[5]), Spain (FEFOC)^[6]), the United Kingdom (The Prostate Cancer Charity^[7]), and the United States (Prostate Cancer Foundation^[8])

A non-Foundation Movember event has being 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 ^[9].

The original Movember Committee does not hold any official fundraising events, but still encourages people to follow their rules for Movember, and to donate their raised funds to any charity participants feel worthwhile^[2].

[edit] Controversy

In November 2007 at Scots College in Wellington, New Zealand, students were banned from prize giving for growing moustaches and threatened to bar a senior student from their NCEA examinations (official secondary school qualification) for growing a moustache during Movember.^[10]

The Movember Foundation events were featured on Australian tabloid current affairs program Today Tonight which accused Movember of spending a disproportionate amount on running costs and high salaries. ^[11]. However, the Foundation claims that their fees were well below the expected level, ^[12] and GiveWell, an Australian charity research organisation, reported that Movember spent only 9% on its running costs in 2007.^[13]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Original ('MOfficial') Movember Website Movember Committee, since 1999 (movember.org)
• The Official Movember Website, Movember Foundation webportal (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Spain, USA, U.K.)