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Original poster

Brave the shave - Macmillan

163 replies

VivienneWestwoodsKnickers · 05/08/2017 16:12

Macmillan is a fantastic organisation, but I'm a little concerned by the new fundraising campaign. Is encouraging people to shave their heads really going to raise more money than the advertising campaign costs?

It seems a big ask, rather than a 5k run, that ice bucket challenge, or an coffee morning.

Is it just me? I can see it excluding a lot of people (including me) who might otherwise have participated in something like less "extreme", so that's a loss of potential money there is it not?

OP posts:
SauvignonBlanche · 08/08/2017 16:26

The hard part is walking round with no hair for weeks afterwards and the strange reactions from people. It was still worth it though!

Oh FFS! Angry That's sums up the mentality of this campaign that trivialises what some go through.

I wasn't 'brave' when I had to walk round like this after a brain tumour and the partial shave - I fucking wept.

Beebee7 · 08/08/2017 16:38

Ooooh Sauv, you poor wee thing. Flowers

Beebee7 · 08/08/2017 16:40

But I equally do not get 'Help me raise £x.xxx for my trip of a lifetime to the Great Wall of China for charidee' nonsense either.

AKA 'pay for a free holiday for me that costs £3K, so I can raise £230. ' Confused

PacificDogwod · 08/08/2017 16:43

Yes, that's the one, Beebee Angry

Sauvignon, you are right. Choosing to have your head does not show solidarity to people who have to accept the loss of their hair due to illness or its treatment.
Hope you are well Thanks

Enchantedflamingo · 08/08/2017 16:50

I think Macmillan are getting a hard time on here. I dislike the brave the shave campaign as not only did my hair fall out but my face ballooned with chemo. As far from cute pixie as you can get.

Macs model is finding the post for 3 years on the basis the NHS will then take it on. They nurse/HCP gets support from mac from then on in.

All charities have admin, it's like any other company. It's necessary.

TwitterQueen1 · 08/08/2017 18:01

sauvignon hopefully your photo will make people stop and think before engaging in this awful stunt.

I hope you are on the road to recovery.

Enchanted it's not Macmillan that's the problem here, it's this tacky, trivial, offensive Brave to Shave campaign.
As Pacific says - we have no choice over our hair loss.
To deliberately mimic this is deeply offensive.

Enchantedflamingo · 08/08/2017 18:03

I get it twitter. I commented on the fact I don't like the campaign.

But some posts were criticising macmillans model and costs and I was referring to that.

HelenaDove · 08/08/2017 18:04

Sauvignon Thanks

FuzzyCustard · 08/08/2017 18:23

I once had quite an argument with someone about headshaving for charity and asked her if she would be comfortable is I used some purple eye shadow to mock up a black eye for a domestic violence charity.
No? Same thing, isn't it?

pineapplecrush · 08/08/2017 18:34

Arsenic puts it so well in her post. Losing your hair through chemotherapy is so traumatic, I still think about it a lot after almost 10 years, a colleague found some photos at work in a clearout of me when my hair was growing back (a lot thinner than it was and my eyebrows never returned) and I couldn't bear to look at them. I am glad this has been discussed. I can't understand how anyone would think it a good idea, particularly a cancer charity.

SauvignonBlanche · 08/08/2017 18:43

I'm much better now thank you - fully recovered.

I moaned a lot about it on MN at the time, in fact I think MN kept me sane.

Brutal though my haircut was it doesn't compare with losing your hair through chemo which I was thankfully spared. I got off lightly really.

I hadn't been back at work long after 7 months off when there was a big fuss being made about some 'brave' colleague making this gesture, it just made me feel angry.

Nonibaloni · 08/08/2017 18:48

In my circle there was a big trend of people shaving their head "for charity". It made very uncomfortable and pp have summed it up nicely. They chose to and gained a lot of kudos for it.

And hair grows back, if only cancer could be so trivial.

bambi2908 · 08/08/2017 20:02

I think there are a lot of judgemental opinions on here about this.
I shaved my head in January 2016.
One of my best friends was diagnosed a few months earlier with breast cancer and was telling me she wanted to arrange a charity night where she would have her head shaved to raise money for various charities. She and her husband have arranged many charity events as they lost their baby DS to meningitis.
I offered to stand up on the stage and have my head shaved with her as I couldn't stand the thought of her doing it on her own, and this seemed like the smallest thing I could do to help her.
I don't think it's really fair for anyone to sit there and say raising money for charities that help people is a bad thing when they have no idea of the reasonings why.
I didn't shave me head for attention or to mock people who are genuinely having a tough time, I did it to help a dear friend and I couldn't have cared less if we were the only people in the room.
Just to note as well, MacMillan was not one of the charities we raised money for

HelenaDove · 08/08/2017 20:11

Fuzzy that has actually already been done.

MaisyPops · 08/08/2017 20:16

But bambi you did something with a friend, not jumped on a well oiled publicity machine telling perfectly healthy people that they are brave charitable warriors for shaving their hair off.

What people are taking issue with (rightly in my opinion) is the way the brave the shave is just another advert to get people to so something instragram worthy. The focus is on the individuals doing it looking the part and having the kudos to go 'yes I braved the shave aren't I so philanthropic'.

For me, there's a growing media thing on fundraising which is all about how people look vs actually doing anything. How many people who jump on each of these media things like sober for October, dry January, movember, bravave the shave, ice bucket challenge, no makeup selfie etc actually donate to charities they care about regularly? Whilst it's nice they're doing something for charity, they are motivated by getting the kudos of doing something charitable rather than just donating quietly to their chosen cause.

HelenaDove · 08/08/2017 20:25

Yes i wonder if the amount of people who did this would be the same if social media didnt exist.

Id love to see statistics on the number of people who did it back in ........2001 compared with now.

gloriawasright · 08/08/2017 20:28

Bambi2908
Your reasons for shaving your head were different to most who are doing the BTS
You were doing what a lot of us would do in the same position ,for family or friends .
And that shows how full of compassion you are ,and I'm sure your friend was very grateful for the companionship when getting her hair shaved .
But the Macmillan campaign has turned this into a mass event ,this then snowballs as campaigns are designed to do .this leads to much excitement and we have countdowns on Facebook ,prompting all the 'you are wonderful Hun,how brave you are.
Can't wait to see this .3days to go yay ..kind of posts .
And the the before and after photos ,and the video of the shave .
And then,slowly ,but very surely .its no longer about supporting people with cancer .theyve been forgotten j. All the excitement .
Oh sure ,the money raised will go to Macmillan .and very welcome it will be .
But in the wake of all this .are the real sufferers .the ones who took a very different route to hair loss.
We are left shaking our heads in disbelief at how wrong a charity for cancer sufferers has got it .

EmotionalTeaspoon · 08/08/2017 20:33

Honeydragon that is genuinely sick. Your poor uncle.

HelenaDove · 08/08/2017 20:34

gloria the article from itv news that ive shared upthread..........the fb comments underneath said article contain comments from people who actually think they know better than the cancer sufferers themselves. Its astounding...........thats how far the narcissim has gone.

Headofthehive55 · 08/08/2017 20:53

crumbs At what point do you consider you are you cured?

Crumbs1 · 08/08/2017 21:04

Well the usual cure point is five years post treatment with no evidence of cancer remaining. I'm still having Tamoxifen but consider myself cured (as do my oncologist and surgeon).

gloriawasright · 08/08/2017 21:08

Helenadove
I have left a couple of messages on the Macmillan page .i don't expect to hear back from them .
It must have been like the emperors new clothes in the advertising dept when they came up with this fiasco .
Did nobody have the guts to stand up and say how stupid this campaign was. How did it get this far .
Please can they just get back to the baths of beans next year .

gloriawasright · 08/08/2017 21:47

And the more I look into it the worse it gets .
The wording on the official t-shirts is
I'm a brave shaver !!
No you bloody aren't .

Enchantedflamingo · 08/08/2017 22:25

My oncologists words:

"You're not in remission because that implies we expect it to come back. But we don't use the cured word either"

This campaign has been ongoing for a few years and this thread has come up several times over that period.

Headofthehive55 · 08/08/2017 23:15

Ah, they aren't so definite at my hospital crumbs.
I am however very glad it seems to be working well for you! (Positive stories are good to hear as I'm sure you are aware)