(originally published by The Student)
Though uniting the likes of Howard Moon, Ned Flanders and Mr T, the stand-alone moustache has largely been shaved off the face of society. An association with seventies porn stars and paedophiles has given the fashion what one can lightly call a bad reputation- one which Movember, the Australian-born month-long charity moustache-a-thon, wants rid of.
On top of its aim to bring back the lost art of the solo Mo, the Movember Foundation raises huge amounts of money and awareness for the fight against male cancers. From an initial seven members way back in 2003, Movember recently crowned its one-millionth Mo Bro and last year raked in a huge £26 million for its partners worldwide. Not bad for a bunch of guys refusing to shave for a month.
Now in its seventh year, Movember straddles the globe, and one-month moustaches are grown by hundreds of thousands of formerly clean-shaven Mo Bros. At the last count there were over 107,000 of them in the UK and more than 125,000 in Australia, with even more in Canada, the US, New Zealand and across Europe. Edinburgh has over 4,700 members and no small number of Movember events and parties.
“The organisers get kind of moustache-ed out by the end of the month”, explains Simon Whitby-Brown, the youngest European member of the prestigious Handlebar Club, “They spend the month flying all over the world and partying really hard.”
I can spot Whitby-Brown from a mile off: tweed jacket, colour-coordinated jumper, and a handlebar moustache which would prompt Salvador Dali to reach enviously for his paintbrush. It’s clear this isn’t a one-month attempt; Whitby-Brown’s two-year-old tash has landed him a place as awareness-raiser for Movember and a regular at events. “Basically my role was to show up to parties with a big moustache.” Last year he fit his English Lit degree around a month of moustachioed celebrity in the form of TV and radio interviews to promote both the mission and the Mo.
Possibly due to its Australian heritage, Movember is based largely around parties. Whether thrown by participants with the aim of fundraising or by the Movember Foundation to encourage its members, a Mo party is not a thing to be sniffed at. Last Friday a group at Ashworth Labs in King’s Buildings threw a Mexican fiesta in support of its 30 Mo-Growing students and helped them come closer to their £1,300 target.
“It’s a lot more work than I anticipated, but we expect it all to pay off at the end of the month,” explains Jerome Kelleher, their team captain and one of many moustachioed biologists. Already they’ve raised over £400 from a single cake sale - moustache-themed, of course - and they have big plans for a calendar featuring Mo Bros in “disturbingly compromising mo-related situations”.
Behind Ashworth’s Mo-Growers is a support team of Mo Sisters. Though lacking the natural facial foliage of a Bro, Sisters are there to raise awareness and provide emotional support to their Bros in the course of their tough month-long task. A few of them wore drawn-on moustaches, like Fiona Lethbridge, a PhD Evolutionary Biology student who told me, “I have a dad, a brother and a boyfriend, and their health affects me. I think men are generally less likely to talk about their health worries, so being open to this is part of my role as a Mo Sister.”
As well as support from their own team, Mo Bros have the Movember Foundation, edged with adverts for such manly essentials as amplifiers, aftershave and chocolate bars. Participants are even given discounts to attractions, free beer at certain restaurants and ‘tasty treats’ in coffee shops. Increasing numbers of businesses are also supporting their employees’ Mo-growing efforts by pound-matching their sponsorship.
“The reason Movember has taken off is that people in offices can do it” Whitby-Brown explains. This is certainly true of Alex Hyde-Parker, who works at the Edinburgh University Development and Alumni Offices. “It’s definitely good for banter in the office,” he says. “Someone can be doing a marathon and it’s not really a conversation, but every day we come in with moustaches and people ask about them.” Team ‘Movelopment’ has raised over £1,000 for the charity so far, and there’s still a week left.
But after the month is done, this young charity’s future is not left unquestioned. James Clayton-Jones, ‘Beard Compliance Officer’ and team captain, thinks that now Movember is in its second year in Britain, “it will have reached it’s peak by next year, then it will die down. People who have sponsered us this year won’t really want to do the same again.” Similarly, if the event successfully brings the Mo back into fashion it will lose a huge amount of its appeal, as Mo Bros make a statement which turns heads by making their appearance a little bit ridiculous. While thoughtfully stroking his ‘trucker’ tash, Ewan Stables of Team Movelopment muses: “Charity is not meant to be easy”.
What makes Movember stand out is its treatment of its charitable aims and its members. A kind of constant comic relief is part of the appeal, as well as the ‘Old Boys Club’-style encouragements from the website and fellow Mo Bros. Supported heartily by the Handlebar Club, Movember describes the moustache as ‘A Coat of Arms for your face’.
As Movember draws hairily to a close and December creeps in, one question sticks- will the Mo remain? Whitby-Brown is adamant that he “would never shave it off. It takes years to grow and I get so much out of it”. But others are not so sure. None of the Ashworth students seemed keen on keeping their lip-tickler, and neither did any of Team Movelopment.
Still, as any Bro who tried to grow a Mo will know, this new face of Men’s Health is like no other. Nowhere else can so much money be raised for so little conscious effort. And as Whitby-Brown points out, viral advertising and Movember’s global appeal mean that “it’s in your face in as many ways as it can be”.
Though uniting the likes of Howard Moon, Ned Flanders and Mr T, the stand-alone moustache has largely been shaved off the face of society. An association with seventies porn stars and paedophiles has given the fashion what one can lightly call a bad reputation- one which Movember, the Australian-born month-long charity moustache-a-thon, wants rid of.
On top of its aim to bring back the lost art of the solo Mo, the Movember Foundation raises huge amounts of money and awareness for the fight against male cancers. From an initial seven members way back in 2003, Movember recently crowned its one-millionth Mo Bro and last year raked in a huge £26 million for its partners worldwide. Not bad for a bunch of guys refusing to shave for a month.
Now in its seventh year, Movember straddles the globe, and one-month moustaches are grown by hundreds of thousands of formerly clean-shaven Mo Bros. At the last count there were over 107,000 of them in the UK and more than 125,000 in Australia, with even more in Canada, the US, New Zealand and across Europe. Edinburgh has over 4,700 members and no small number of Movember events and parties.
“The organisers get kind of moustache-ed out by the end of the month”, explains Simon Whitby-Brown, the youngest European member of the prestigious Handlebar Club, “They spend the month flying all over the world and partying really hard.”
I can spot Whitby-Brown from a mile off: tweed jacket, colour-coordinated jumper, and a handlebar moustache which would prompt Salvador Dali to reach enviously for his paintbrush. It’s clear this isn’t a one-month attempt; Whitby-Brown’s two-year-old tash has landed him a place as awareness-raiser for Movember and a regular at events. “Basically my role was to show up to parties with a big moustache.” Last year he fit his English Lit degree around a month of moustachioed celebrity in the form of TV and radio interviews to promote both the mission and the Mo.
Possibly due to its Australian heritage, Movember is based largely around parties. Whether thrown by participants with the aim of fundraising or by the Movember Foundation to encourage its members, a Mo party is not a thing to be sniffed at. Last Friday a group at Ashworth Labs in King’s Buildings threw a Mexican fiesta in support of its 30 Mo-Growing students and helped them come closer to their £1,300 target.
“It’s a lot more work than I anticipated, but we expect it all to pay off at the end of the month,” explains Jerome Kelleher, their team captain and one of many moustachioed biologists. Already they’ve raised over £400 from a single cake sale - moustache-themed, of course - and they have big plans for a calendar featuring Mo Bros in “disturbingly compromising mo-related situations”.
Behind Ashworth’s Mo-Growers is a support team of Mo Sisters. Though lacking the natural facial foliage of a Bro, Sisters are there to raise awareness and provide emotional support to their Bros in the course of their tough month-long task. A few of them wore drawn-on moustaches, like Fiona Lethbridge, a PhD Evolutionary Biology student who told me, “I have a dad, a brother and a boyfriend, and their health affects me. I think men are generally less likely to talk about their health worries, so being open to this is part of my role as a Mo Sister.”
As well as support from their own team, Mo Bros have the Movember Foundation, edged with adverts for such manly essentials as amplifiers, aftershave and chocolate bars. Participants are even given discounts to attractions, free beer at certain restaurants and ‘tasty treats’ in coffee shops. Increasing numbers of businesses are also supporting their employees’ Mo-growing efforts by pound-matching their sponsorship.
“The reason Movember has taken off is that people in offices can do it” Whitby-Brown explains. This is certainly true of Alex Hyde-Parker, who works at the Edinburgh University Development and Alumni Offices. “It’s definitely good for banter in the office,” he says. “Someone can be doing a marathon and it’s not really a conversation, but every day we come in with moustaches and people ask about them.” Team ‘Movelopment’ has raised over £1,000 for the charity so far, and there’s still a week left.
But after the month is done, this young charity’s future is not left unquestioned. James Clayton-Jones, ‘Beard Compliance Officer’ and team captain, thinks that now Movember is in its second year in Britain, “it will have reached it’s peak by next year, then it will die down. People who have sponsered us this year won’t really want to do the same again.” Similarly, if the event successfully brings the Mo back into fashion it will lose a huge amount of its appeal, as Mo Bros make a statement which turns heads by making their appearance a little bit ridiculous. While thoughtfully stroking his ‘trucker’ tash, Ewan Stables of Team Movelopment muses: “Charity is not meant to be easy”.
What makes Movember stand out is its treatment of its charitable aims and its members. A kind of constant comic relief is part of the appeal, as well as the ‘Old Boys Club’-style encouragements from the website and fellow Mo Bros. Supported heartily by the Handlebar Club, Movember describes the moustache as ‘A Coat of Arms for your face’.
As Movember draws hairily to a close and December creeps in, one question sticks- will the Mo remain? Whitby-Brown is adamant that he “would never shave it off. It takes years to grow and I get so much out of it”. But others are not so sure. None of the Ashworth students seemed keen on keeping their lip-tickler, and neither did any of Team Movelopment.
Still, as any Bro who tried to grow a Mo will know, this new face of Men’s Health is like no other. Nowhere else can so much money be raised for so little conscious effort. And as Whitby-Brown points out, viral advertising and Movember’s global appeal mean that “it’s in your face in as many ways as it can be”.
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