“Our work is not done” – William P. Lauder on why the journey must continue to defeat breast cancer

From the Publisher: The Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Campaign is one of the great Corporate Social Responsibility campaigns. Designed to unite and inspire people around the world to create a breast cancer-free world, it was founded in 1992 by the late Evelyn H. Lauder with the launch of the now iconic Pink Ribbon.

The Breast Cancer Campaign is The Estée Lauder Companies’ largest corporate philanthropic initiative and supported by its employees worldwide.

It has raised over US$79 million to support global research, education and medical services, with more than US$65 million funding 260 Breast Cancer Research Foundation medical research grants globally. The Estée Lauder Companies Executive Chairman William P. Lauder told The Moodie Davitt Report Chairman Martin Moodie about the ambitions for this year’s campaign.

The Moodie Davitt Report: Mr. Lauder, the Breast Cancer Campaign has grown from a notion, a big idea, in 1992 to an extraordinary global movement today. How do you look back on that 27-year journey? And, just as importantly, how do you see it going forward?

William Lauder: The campaign was founded in 1992 by my late mother Evelyn H. Lauder.  At that time, she was troubled by the lack of awareness, funding and resources necessary to overcome breast cancer. People around the world were being affected by the disease, yet no one was talking about it.

This passion for change is what drove her to launch The Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Campaign. She co-created the Pink Ribbon – a global symbol of breast health – and the rest is history. To date, the campaign has raised more than US$79 million to fund research, education and medical services globally.

A year later, in 1993, she founded the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) to advance the world’s most promising research to eradicate breast cancer. I am honoured to also serve as BCRF’s Co-Chair and continue her life’s work. The Breast Cancer Campaign has been a key part of the progress by raising money, funding research and inspiring hope not only in patients but in the millions of people touched by this disease.

Today, the goal of creating awareness worldwide has in many ways been achieved, but our work is not done. We remain committed to putting an end to breast cancer, making my mother’s dream a reality. Our sustained investment in research and education is unwavering.

The biggest obstacle to ending breast cancer is funding — plain and simple. Today, research is advancing at a pace never before seen. The Breast Cancer Research Foundation is supporting the brightest minds in science all over the world, mining every avenue of research—from prevention, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship and metastasis. We are confident that we will end breast cancer as a life-threatening disease and funding research is the only way to achieve that goal.

Tell us please about your key ambitions and motivations for this year’s campaign.

The Breast Cancer campaign is an expression of the best of what we do as a company. The Campaign’s goal this year is to raise another US$9 million to fund research, education and medical services. We remain committed to having a positive impact on people around the world and in the communities in which we live and work. The campaign is at the heart of our family values and culture and continues to unite and inspire all of those it touches.

The Breast Cancer Campaign is a source of pride and passion for all of us at The Estée Lauder Companies. When my mother first co-created the pink ribbon in 1992 her goal was that everyone, everywhere would use it to spread awareness about a disease that was touching so many people but had not yet garnered the global attention it deserved.

Today, the pink ribbon has become the ubiquitous symbol of breast health and inspired a global movement to end breast cancer. I wear my pink ribbon pin every day with such pride knowing what it symbolises to so many. I am so proud, and know my mother would be too, to see what we have collectively achieved towards our mission of a breast cancer-free world.

Despite the remarkable progress medical research has achieved down the years, breast cancer remains a blight – and a killer. Every 15 seconds, somewhere in the world, as this year’s campaign acknowledges, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer. A terrifying statistic. This year, The Breast Cancer Campaign’s creative incorporates 15 pink ribbons. Tell us how you hope to translate that imagery to truly delivering progress in the battle to defeat breast cancer. 

Our Breast Cancer Campaign’s goal has always been to raise funds, inspire action and unite people around the world together to address this disease. My mother said that if we were going to find a cure for breast cancer it was really something that could never be done by any one person, it had to be done by a group.

Our hope remains that our campaign’s visual expression and important messages encourage people everywhere to join together and drive impact that brings us closer to a cure.

And yet… and yet… mortality rates have decreased -40% among women since the late 1980s, five-year survival rates are better than 90% with early detection, and treatments and surgical techniques have improved dramatically. That did not happen without commitment, finding, vision and belief. What is your vision for the world and breast cancer in, say, 2029 – ten years from now? 

My vision always remains that we will come closer to a world without breast cancer through the unwavering support of our employees, partners and consumers around the world.