With a simple, canary yellow band, cyclist Lance Armstrong hasraised cancer awareness throughout the nation–while simultaneouslydeveloping an offbeat fashion trend.
At age 25, Armstrong was diagnosed with and overcame testicularcancer in 1996. Shortly after, he earned his first yellow jersey bywinning the 2,130 mile Tour de France race in 1999.
Six consecutive victories later, he then used his success toform the “wear yellow” campaign, using Nike, to spread his “livestrong” mantra across the states.
In an attempt to educate the nation about cancer, Armstrongcreated a non-profit organization known as the Lance ArmstrongFoundation.
“We saw an obvious need for awareness programs,” said MichelleMilford, LAF public relations manger. “After all, research is thebackbone for a cure.”
Money for LAF is raised through donations and products soldonline, such as diamond rings, books and the infamous yellowbracelet, symbolic of Armstrong’s Tour de France jersey.
In July of 2004, direct donations to LAF brought in nearly twomillion dollars alone–doubling from last July.
As much as 81 percent of proceeds from online sales go back intoLAF, Milford said.
According to Milford, the money for LAF comes and goes withArmstrong’s successes in the past six Tour De France races,highlighting the recent bracelets as the biggest money maker forthe Texas based foundation.
Engraved with Amrstong’s motto, “Live strong,” the wristband hasbecome more popular than was expected.
The idea started when Nike offered to donate $1 million to LAF.In attempts to raise an additional $5million from the public, LAFand Nike created the bright wristbands.
Currently, the bright rubber band is worn by nine millionAmericans, including President Bush and his opponent JohnKerry.
At $1.09, the bracelets are worn by a diverse group of people:both young and old, affected by cancer or not.
“No particular age group is buying them,” said Champs Sportssales associate, Ishua Credit. “Everybody seems to want them.
Credit, an LSU English senior, said the Mall of Louisiana storesold out of the bands four weeks after they premiered.
“People were calling in from Texas trying to order them fromus,” Credit said. “Sometimes people would come in wanting 25bracelets at a time.”
The three shipments made to Champs Sports was an estimated 2,000yellow bands, but it wasn’t enough.
“The program is excellent,” Credit said. “But, they should’vesent more. The demand for them is huge right now.”
Ahman Robertson, 22, a sales associate at Champs Sports at TheMall at Cortana said his store also sold out, as of last week.
“They were a huge success here,” Robertson said. “We didn’t sellout as fast as other stores, because of our smaller customerbase.”
The only way to obtain the bracelets is online at www.laf.org,where a slim 2 million bands remain.
Reason to wear the band is different from person to person.
“About 1/3 of Americans will experience cancer in theirlifetime,” Milford said. “What better way to remember those peoplewhile giving back at the same time.”
The bracelets reach more than those affected by cancer.
“They are supporting a great cause,” said Elementary educationjunior Nicole Appleton. ” ‘Live strong’ is also a good motto foranyone to follow everyday.”
LAF has yet to decide if they will produce more of the popularbracelets.
“We don’t know what we will do next,” Milford said. “We justknow that yellow will always be our color.”
It’s the meaning behind the primary color that stands out themost about the “wear yellow” campaign. Of all colors, they choseone of happiness to turn the tables on what’s usually a darksubject.
“Not only is yellow Lance’s favorite color, it’s also the colorof his Tour de France jersey,” Milford said. “Seeing Lance inyellow means something to people. Yellow is the symbol of courage,hope and inspiration for those people.”