Prostate Cancer Charity: Marks and Spencer joins forces with charity

Tuesday, 06, Mar 2007 12:00

Marks & Spencer has joined forces with The Prostate Cancer Charity to help raise awareness of prostate cancer - a disease that kills one man in the UK every hour.

Throughout March, M&S customers will be able to pick up information about prostate cancer and help raise funds for the Charity by purchasing a blue, Real Man pin badge at over 400 M&S stores across the country in support of Prostate Cancer Awareness Week (19-25 March 2007).

The Prostate Cancer Charity's Chief Executive, John Neate, said: "We are delighted to be working with M&S to take awareness of prostate cancer to a much needed, higher level. For us this is a landmark partnership.

"The blue, Real Man pin badge will help us raise invaluable funds to support our work with men living with this disease, as well as fund our information services and our vital research projects.

"Though it is a disease that devastates the lives of thousands of men and their families every year, prostate cancer is a much neglected cause. It is fantastic that M&S has recognised that it can no longer go unnoticed."

Melissa Wilson, Menswear Senior Marketing Manager at Marks & Spencer, said: "We are proud to be supporting The Prostate Cancer Charity. This partnership will help raise awareness of this disease across the UK and directly help many of those already affected. Our customers can be safe in the knowledge that by buying a blue, Real Man pin badge they can help to make a big difference."

The partnership is backed by Dancing on Ice celebrities, Neil Fox and Jason Gardiner.

Magic breakfast DJ and Pop Idol judge, Neil Fox, said: "My father died of prostate cancer when he was 76 but if he had known more about the disease he might be alive today.

"This partnership will hopefully encourage more men to find out about prostate cancer and break down the taboos surrounding the disease. It will also help those men who have been diagnosed feel more supported and not alone in their battle against cancer. By buying a blue, 'Real Man' pin badge M&S customers will help us put prostate cancer on the map."

Blue, Real Man pin badges will be available at M&S stores across the UK and Northern Ireland for a suggested donation of £1 and all proceeds from the sales will go to fund the vital work of The Prostate Cancer Charity.

Notes to Editors:

. The Prostate Cancer Charity is the leading voluntary organisation in the UK focused specifically on this disease. It works for a world where lives are no longer limited by prostate cancer.

. The Prostate Cancer Charity is aiming to increase its income by at least one million pounds each year to fund its growing support, information and research work.

. The Prostate Cancer Charity Chief Executive, John Neate, is available for interview

. Case studies of men who have had prostate cancer are available for interview through The Prostate Cancer Charity's press office.

. Prostate Cancer Awareness Week runs from 19th to 25th March 2007. The theme is Real Men Do Something About It. For more information visit: http://www.prostate-cancer.org.uk/what/awareness07/

. Every year nearly 32,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the United Kingdom and 10,000 men die from it. Prostate cancer is now the most common cancer diagnosed in men in the UK - every hour at least one man dies from this disease.

. African Caribbean men are three times more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than their white counterparts.

. If you have any queries about prostate cancer call The Prostate Cancer Charity's confidential helpline 0800 074 8383 which is staffed by specialist nurses and open from 10am to 4pm Monday to Friday and Wednesdays from 7 - 9pm or visit www.prostate-cancer.org.uk

. A prostate cancer factsheet is available on request from The Prostate Cancer Charity press office.

. The pin badge is called a Real Man pin badge because it is part of The Prostate Cancer Charity's "Real Men Know All About It" campaign. The campaign was launched at the end of September 2005 to help men realise that finding out more about the prostate gland and prostate cancer could save their lives in the future. The campaign targets men and their partners of all ages, but primarily men aged 50 and over, and positions prostate cancer awareness as "Real Man" territory, using lists of 'manly' activities and their love of statistics as a means to communicate the hard facts. The Real Man campaign has been used in a variety of different ways and is a framework for the Charity's future campaigns.