EXCLUSIVE: Yasmin Le Bon fronts Avon Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaign

The model is encouraging women to integrate breast checking into their everyday routine

To tie in with Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Yasmin Le Bon is fronting a new campaign for Avon, which encourages women to incorporate checking their breasts as part of their daily beauty routine.

Avon hopes to increase survival rates of breast cancer by improving the chances of early detection. The Avon Breast Promise Report 2012 suggests that women should get their daughters familiar with how to care for their breasts from as early as 12 or 13 years of age.

The report, which questioned 2,000 women, found that 55% of us were more likely to check our breasts if it was something we could integrate with our daily grooming routine, like going to the gym.

Leading breast cancer specialist, Prof Janet Reibstein, who worked with Avon on the report, said: 'As a young woman, not only are you becoming conscious of your body but it’s the point in your life when you set up many routines that will last a lifetime. Habits can be formed through three main pillars: gain, avoiding pain or relieving anxiety.

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'If, from an early age, we can condition young women to see breast checking as a gain, something that will empower them as they come to know about their body and something that can be thought of as ‘normal’ and part of their grooming and health regime this will be the most effective motivator, far outweighing the effectiveness of the other factors, which are driven by negative associations that don’t at this point in their lives really apply to them, and are therefore less likely to be meaningful.'

In response to the report, Avon has set up its Breast Promise campaign to help encourage woman to regularly check their breasts.

Model, and spokesperson for the campaign, Yasmin Le Bon, says: 'This is a campaign I feel very passionate about. Regular breast checking is such a simple task, yet still seems to be overlooked in most people’s daily routine. We all quite happily spend our time cleansing, toning and moisturising so we’re clearly pretty good at creating routines.'

Throughout September and October 2012, Avon will be building on the research conducted for the report with the biggest ever survey on women’s breast checking habits. For every completed survey Avon will donate £1 to breast cancer charities.

To pledge and for more information on Avon’s support for the fight against breast cancer and other causes that matter to women, please visit the Avon Breast Promise website.

Watch our exclusive behind-the-scenes video of Avon's Breast Promise ambassadors Yasmin Le Bon and Laura Whitmore.

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