In partnership with the Philippine Cancer Society, the Benilde Marketing Management Program, Benilde Junior Marketing Association (BJMA), and Guild of Event Management Students (GEMS) hosted Avon Philippines’ Feel Yourself Pink Campus Tour 2025 on Nov. 14 at the 5/F Theater, Design and Arts (D+A) Campus. 

Avon Philippines’ Feel Yourself Pink Campus Tour teaches breast cancer prevention to students, educators, staff, and guests in local universities all across the country as part of its brand’s pledge to the Breast Cancer Promise.

The program began with opening remarks from Mr. Gianfranco Figueroa, Manager of Public Relations and Communications at Avon Philippines, welcoming the audience to the event and briefly tackling how Avon Worldwide has raised $951 million in funding breast cancer causes and breast health screening for 20 million women for over 30 years.

The speakers for the event were then introduced, Dr. Artesa Mae Lim from the Philippine Cancer Society, Ms. Samantha Perez from Avon Intimate Apparel, and an actor and Avon ambassador Mr. Enchong Dee.

One of the highlights of the program was the “Fact or Wack” activity. Using Mentimeter, the audience responded to breast cancer-related statements displayed on screen, while the guest speakers held cards indicating “Fact” or “Wack” back-to-back. Dr. Lim provided informative explanations for each statement, giving participants accurate information about breast health. 

Dr. Lim presented basic information on healthy breasts, risk factors of breast cancer especially when there is a family history, and instructions for properly executing a self breast check. According to her, healthy breasts should not have swollen lumps around the chest and/or armpit area, flaky, crusty texture around the breast skin, nipple discharge that is not breastmilk, especially blood, and nipples that lay inwardly or flatly instead of outwardly; otherwise, these are symptoms of breast cancer. 

In addition, Dr. Lim also explained that several factors can increase a person’s risk of breast cancer, including genetics, early menstruation before age 12, obesity, over five years of hormone replacement therapy, physical inactivity, and excessive alcohol consumption.

Dr. Lim emphasized that “breast screening is one of the easiest [assessments] to do… you need not pay [for a medical test] and [it] could be done at home” with a tutorial of performing a self-exam through visual and tactile inspection by observing the shape, size, and skin, feeling for lumps around the chest to the armpit areas, and gently squeezing the breasts to check for leaks. 

Meanwhile, Ms. Perez discussed how to identify the right bra size and its importance for comfort and support. Comfort is considered for fitting. “There are four types of comfort: tactile comfort, thermal comfort, motion comfort, and aesthetic comfort,” she explained.

Tactile comfort refers to the comfort of touches such as soft, rough, and itchy. Thermal comfort checks if a bra is “quick-dry” and “breathable.” Additionally, she described motion comfort as referring to “a bra that moves with you” countering the perception that “bras are cages within the boobs.” Aesthetic comfort focuses on “how it looks on your chest and outfits” assessing the tightness or looseness by the cups, straps, or bands. 

A Q&A portion followed, giving students an opportunity to directly engage with the guests as they corrected the prevailing myths about breast cancer. The program concluded with a meaningful pledge, where everyone was encouraged to commit to taking care of themselves, including performing regular self-breast checks. 

In an interview with The Benildean and BJMA, Mr. Dee shared how witnessing his grandparents deal with advanced breast cancer moved him to this advocacy. He also emphasized the need to strive for breast cancer awareness, “We [think] that women are [the ones] only affected [by] breast cancer … it is a collective effort [to address breast cancer] because both men and women should approach it in a preventive way,” he said.

When asked how important it is for men to be involved in the advocacy of breast cancer awareness, he stated, “The approach [that tends to occur when] prevent[ing] and cure[ing] people with breast cancer, everyone is affected like moms, dads, and the whole family.”

He noted that even when promoting breast cancer awareness through a brand campaign, the advocacy remains authentic, as both the company and participants carry the stories of countless survivors and their families.