Breast Cancer Awareness Month Oct 1, 2021
From knowing your body, to saving your life. Join us to end the late diagnosis of breast cancer this Breast Cancer Awareness Month
This Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2021, we’re continuing our Breast Cancer Promise to ensure every woman knows the signs, knows the symptoms and knows how to take action by launching a ‘Boob Portal’ across all our international markets. As part of our online journey, every customer and Representative that visits Avon for their beauty buys could be saving lives by accessing crucial resources breast health to help ensure people know the signs and how to take action.
Our global Boob Portal includes a collection of real-life stories as well as essential guidance on breast health and the importance of getting checked out from healthcare professional Dr Frankie Jackson Spence. Local markets’ ecommerce sites will have tailored content bespoke to each countries call to action, for example Avon UK will be signposting to longstanding charity partner CoppaFeel!’s ‘Self Checkout’ to ensure more people know their normal and know how to take action.
One in 7 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime but, if detected early, patients have a good chance of survival according to the NHS in the UK*, something that we are supporting with the launch of our Boob Portal. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO)* there were 2.3 million women diagnosed with breast cancer and 685,000 deaths globally in 2020. As of the end of 2020, there were 7.8 million women living with breast cancer after receiving a diagnosis in the past five years, making it the world’s most prevalent cancer. The pandemic has also had an impact on diagnoses with national restrictions leading to a drop in screening visits globally including in Italy* (37.6%) and nearly a million in the UK*.
Dr Frankie Jackson-Spence, NHS Doctor, comments: “Knowing what’s normal for you helps you notice any changes, so it’s important check your breasts and pecs regularly. Knowing the signs and risks of breast cancer and how to take action can have a real impact on survival. If everyone gets confident in what’s normal for them and feels empowered to talk to their doctor if they have questions or concerns, we stand a better chance of stopping breast cancer in its tracks. Remember, no-one knows your body better than you, so get checking and have the confidence to get checked out.”
Representative training
To further raise awareness of the risks and signs of breast cancer, as well as when to see a doctor, we have developed a training module for our global network of five million Representatives who span more than 50 countries. This training aims to equip our Representatives with vital knowledge of the signs of breast cancer and what to look out for, while also helping to normalise and stimulate discussion around the disease, helping to raise awareness and, ultimately, save lives.
From beauty buys, to saving lives
To honour Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Avon markets internationally will be launching a range of fundraising products to raise funds for international charities aligned to our global Breast Cancer Promise. Products include the innovative Love Avon, Cancer Care pack created with three kind to skin products especially for those going through treatment including the Caring Scalp Balm. We’re also encouraging our community to show their support for the cause with our Breast Cancer Promise Pins and turn beauty must haves from every day essentials to lifesaving products with favourites like our True Colour Ultra Satin Lipstick carrying a donation this BCAM.
Angela Cretu, CEO of Avon International, comments: “Like many businesses, here at Avon we accelerated our digital transformation during the pandemic – more than ever in our 135-year history – and we experienced a 132% increase in digital sales in Q1 2021. With more people visiting Avon Representatives’ online stores, we want to use our digital retail presence to raise breast health awareness. Avon’s Breast Cancer Promise is to make sure everyone knows the signs of breast cancer and how to take action. Early detection of breast cancer could save lives and we want more people to know how to take fast action – whether that’s checking breasts or going for a regular scan.”
Celebrating our 135th birthday this year, hawse have been supporting breast cancer awareness for nearly 30 years (since 1992), and in that time has raised $939m for breast cancer causes and funded 16.4m breast cancer screenings globally.
*World Health Organisation https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/breast-cancer
* Italy https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8241687/#bb0045
*US https://ascopubs.org/doi/full/10.1200/CCI.20.00068