New look for Look Good Feel Better
Last week FashioNZ and other media were invited to attend a lunch at the Langham Hotels Barolo Restaurant to unveil the new advertising campaign for the cancer-related charity Look Good Feel Better.
Every person with cancer experiences a different set of symptoms and side-effects. But none of those symptoms and side-effects are pleasant and seeing an unrecognisable face staring back at you when you look in the mirror as a result of these side effects can be shocking.
Look Good Feel Better helps women cope with those changes in appearance, boosting their self-esteem and emotional resilience so they can better handle the medical battle they have on their hands.
Their new campaign uses makeup and makeup tools to literally spell out how looking good can help women with cancer feel better. Designed by TBWAWhybin, and brought to life by photographer Charlie Smith, the print ads highlight the amazing work Look Good Feel Better does.
Look Good Feel Better cant cure cancer but it can help to restore the self-esteem of women who are feeling emotionally and physically low. And those women can then muster more emotional resources to deal with the other effects cancer is having on their lives. Because after a workshop, they do, literally, look good and feel better.
It started in the United States when, in 1987, a doctor asked former Personal Care Products Council president Ed Kavanaugh how to get a makeover for a cancer patient he was treating. The woman was so depressed and self-conscious about how she looked she wouldnt venture outside her hospital room. Kavanaugh arranged donations of makeup and organised a makeup artist to visit. The results were astonishing: the womans spirits lifted and she began laughing again, for the first time in weeks.
Look Good Feel Better arrived in New Zealand in 1992, when it was founded by the Cosmetic Toiletry & Fragrances Association of New Zealand (CTFA). It now runs in 23 towns, cities and regions from Paihia to Invercargill, with 300 workshops, run by 400 volunteers, reaching 3000 women, every year.
During the 2½ hour workshop trained volunteers show women how to cope with the appearance side-effects of their cancer treatment, such as dry, flaking skin, swollen or gaunt faces, scars, pigmentation changes, acne, brittle fingernails and, of course, hair loss. The volunteers take the women through a step-by-step skincare regime and shown how to apply cosmetics to help camouflage loss of eyebrows, eyelashes and changes in skin colour. Then they are shown how to use wigs, turbans and scarves to look stylish no matter how much hair they have lost.
At the end of the workshop, every woman goes home with a complimentary beauty kit of cosmetics and skincare products donated by the CTFA. Each year the association donates $2.5 million worth of products to Look Good Feel Better.
The Look Good Feel Better advertising campaign is set to run in New Zealand womens magazines starting this summer so be sure to keep an eye out.
For more information on Look Good Feel Better or to find out how you can donate or help raise funds go to www.lgfb.co.nz