M&S teams up with Breast Cancer Now to raise breast cancer symptom awareness

M&S has teamed up with Breast Cancer Now to help raise awareness of the correct way to check for breast cancer, installing informational signage in over 2,000 of its fitting rooms across the UK.

This month, M&S is rolling out signage to more than 1,500 fitting rooms with guidance on the signs and symptoms of breast cancer. In addition, it is also being rolled out across M&S’ colleague changing rooms.

As the UK’s biggest bra retailer, selling 21 million bras in 2022 alone, the signage will be seen by millions of people every year. It will be placed in every cubicle in the women’s and lingerie fitting rooms at 110 stores across the UK.

M&S has partnered with Breast Cancer Now since 2001, raising over £33 million for the charity over the past two decades.

QR codes feature on the signage and direct customers to the Breast Cancer Now, giving them further information. It is designed to help customers with early detection and encourage more people to regularly touch, look and check their breasts.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, accounting for three in 20 (15%) of all cancer cases in females and males combined. Around 55,000 people are diagnosed with breast cancer every year in the UK, however, the sooner the disease is diagnosed, the better the chances of treatment being successful.

The idea originated from 15 M&S colleagues, including Savanna Binyon, who submitted it to M&S’ colleague suggestion scheme.

Savanna Binyon, Trained Bra Fitter and Section Manager for Lingerie at M&S, commented: "At M&S we get the opportunity to meet so many incredible women and through our Bra Fit service help them feel more confident about their boobs, so I’m really pleased that M&S is putting this idea into action. I suggested it after realising that so many of my friends didn’t know how to check their boobs for signs of breast cancer."

Baroness Delyth Morgan, Chief Executive at Breast Cancer Now, added: "We’re delighted to be building on our partnership with M&S by raising vital awareness of breast cancer signs and symptoms with people in M&S changing rooms across the country.

"We know that the sooner breast cancer is diagnosed, the better the chances of treatment being successful, making it vital that people get to know their ‘normal’, along with the signs and symptoms of breast cancer, and to get any new or unusual changes checked out by their GP as soon as possible."