Influencers and brands promote Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Brands including Palmer’s, Asda and Marks & Spencer are among those ramping up their support for the annual health awareness campaign, which runs worldwide throughout October.

Asda has this year partnered romantic fiction publisher Mills & Boon for its campaign – with activity running across social media channels using #TickledPink2019.

As part of the campaign, model, TV personality and Strictly Come Dancing winner Abbey Clancy has penned a novel for Mills & Boon, which has transformed its Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts with a Tickled Pink takeover.

This October, we're celebrating #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth by partnering with @asda for their Tickled Pink campaign! ??????

Learn more about how we're helping to raise money and awareness for breast cancer, as well as how you can get involved here: https://t.co/MhhdHpg3pX pic.twitter.com/WGGBpyraEm

— Mills & Boon (@MillsandBoon) October 1, 2019

Not to be outdone, Marks & Spencer is supporting the campaign with digital activity across its social channels, including a video featuring women who have been affected by breast cancer.

The retailer is working with 11 women affected by the disease to raise awareness through a series of online interviews and videos.

View this post on Instagram

Farida and Julie, both from Manchester became friends after breast cancer brought them together. They’ve since created a comedy and theatre show inspired by their shared experience of diagnosis, treatment and beyond. Visit our website to see more inspiring stories of support and find out how you can help too.

A post shared by M&S (@marksandspencer) on Oct 1, 2019 at 4:08am PDT

Taking the campaign into a live activation, skin and haircare brand Palmer’s UK is planning an event on 16 October in partnership with beauty box company Treasure Tress and charity Breast Cancer Care.

The event is set to include a meditation class, health scans and a panel discussion hosted by Renée Davis, founder of creativity hub Out The Box.

The event is part of a wider campaign by the brand that includes PR activity throughout the year, but particularly focused on October.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a worldwide drive to ensure women and men know how to check for signs of cancer in their breasts or pecs, as well as to raise funds for cancer charities, including Breast Cancer Now.

Meanwhile, influencers have also been getting in on the action.

A group of 50 Instagrammers and bloggers who have breast cancer or are in remission from the disease joined forces for a co-ordinated drive to push the campaign.

Led by family and lifestyle influencer Laura Rutherford, the women – who have a collective Instagram reach of 500,000 – took part in a photo shoot in London’s Notting Hill dressed in pink bras and jeans.

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I spent the night before laying in my bed anxiously wide awake listening to the rain hammering it outside. Then I spent a good hour praying it would stop in time for my photo shoot. Thankfully I woke to a dry Notting hill and the weather was not going to hold us back whatsoever. Women came from all over and as far as Birmingham to support the cause and bare all for Breast Cancer Awareness. And this pregnant mama @homemade_hannah bared all too?? This is to say a very BIG THANK YOU to everyone that turned up yesterday. What a laugh we had! Special thanks goes to @beckieegan_photography for photographing in her bra too and keeping us all in line. For @pret and your yum sandwiches, @mirabeauwine for the refreshing Dutch courage we all needed. Thanks to my neighbour and friend Matt who generously opened up his house to us, to my husband @papatye for defeating his hangover and pulling his ‘location manager weight’!! And finally thank you to @georgeatasda for providing some of the girls with some pink bras ?? The big ‘reveal’ will be tomorrow so keep your eyes peeled! . . #breastknowyourself #bcam #breastcancer #breastcancerawareness #cancerawareness @breast_cancer_care @breastcancernow

A post shared by l a u r a r u t h e r f o r d (@that_mummy_smile) on Sep 29, 2019 at 11:01pm PDT

Using #BreastKnowYourself the women involved posted the image on their social accounts simultaneously on 1 October.

"The campaign #BreastKnowYourself is fundamentally about getting the all-important message of 'getting to know your bodies' out across social media, targeting both women and men alike," said Rutherford.

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