Estee Lauder promotes breast cancer awareness by illuminating landmarks

Estee Lauder Cos. promoted its 2010 Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign during this month’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month by illuminating New York's Empire State Building and 40 other international landmarks in pink lights.

The endeavor is part of a Guinness World Record attempt by Estee Lauder. It concludes the high-end skin care and makeup company’s attempts at the “Most Landmarks Illuminated for a Cause in 24 Hours.”

Estee Lauder's Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign’s Global Landmarks Illumination Initiative began in 2000. Since then, it has illuminated more than 534 landmarks, with 200 illuminations occurring last year alone.

All lit up
A minimum of 24 landmarks must be lit for at least 10 minutes each during a 24-hour period in order for the company to launch into the category.

Here is a screen grab of an illumination made in honor of breast cancer awareness by Estee Lauder:

Here is another screen grab:

International illuminations in recognition of the Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign included the Taj Mahal and Tower Hotel in India, the Castle Schonbrunn in Austria, the Kuala Lumpur Tower in Malaysia and Rockefeller Center in New York.

The attempt began on Sept. 30 in Australia and continued worldwide until culminating in the U.S., when Evelyn Lauder, senior vice president of Estee Lauder, and Elizabeth Hurley, spokesmodel for Estee Lauder and the campaign, flipped the Empire State Building switch simultaneously.

In addition to the illuminations, Estee Lauder is raising awareness with the photo of woman’s hand over her breast and the message, “Connect. Communicate. Conquer. Prevent Breast Cancer One Woman At A Time.”

The image is intended to represent the idea of taking a pledge against breast cancer.

Well-known bloggers were invited to New York to re-create the image, photographed by John Midgley.

Participating bloggers include Jane Cuoto, Sharon Cuoto and Audrey McClelland from Mom Generations, Gala Darling, Laura Kenny from AOL StyleList, Wendy Lam from Nitrolicious, Peter Shankman from Shankman, Amanda Steinberg from DailyWorth, Rachel Sklar from mediaITE, Renee Styler from Good Enough Mother and Annie Tomlin from Bella Sugar.

Here is a screen grab of Gala Darling’s images from her blog at http://galadarling.com:

Here is a screen grab of Peter Shankman’s image from his blog at http://shankman.com:

The images are being used to encourage people to take their own pledge against breast cancer and take steps in avoiding it, such as getting a mammogram if you are a woman over 40.

The pledge is being featured on more than a dozen Estee Lauder brand Web sites, Facebook pages and on the participant’s blogs.

Bloomingdale’s 59th Street store in New York last week held an event where consumers were encouraged to tweet about the campaign and breast cancer awareness on Twitter under the #elcbca Hashtag.

They were also invited to create videos taking their own pledge against breast cancer, the best of which were posted to Estee Lauder's Breast Cancer Awareness YouTube channel.

Final Take
Kaitlyn Bonneville is editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York