There are two organizations devoted to using men’s facial hair for charity, and their once jocular cooperation has turned to cold rivalry.
We’re talking, of course, of the American Moustache Institute and Movember Foundation. AMI is a small fraternity of volunteers, who fight for facial hair rights (which is nearly a thing; Disneyland used to ban moustachioed guests and only just recently allowed employees to wear beards, and Brigham Young University still bans facial hair for their students, unless a doctor allows them) and raise money or charity. In fact, they even helped the Movember Foundation move to the United States in 2007.
The Movember Foundation, by contrast, is a multimillion dollar NGO that raises money for men’s health by promoting the growing of moustaches in November.
The two once had amicable relations, but all that has soured. In a blog post, AMI has accused the Movember Foundation of dishonesty, of being told that they “should feel privileged that Movember is allowing you to raise money for the organization”, and of refusing to cooperate with all the other facial-hair based charities in the US.
Truly, it’s a sad day for moustachioed men everywhere; Ambrose Burnside must be turning over in his grave, assuming he’s not rising from it to give the leadership of AMI and the Movember Foundation a stern talking-to. If that doesn’t happen, maybe ZZ Top and the Beards can get on it.
