Men’s health charity Movember and streetwear brand Mishka have teamed to launch NFTs that incentivize self-checks for testicular cancer.
Called Non-Fungible Testicles, Mishka designed NFT characters for the Solana network that gain different traits every time a holder does a self-test. Digital marketing agency MRM reached out to Mishka to partner on the NFT project, and intrigued the brand with the left-field idea with a cause.
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“We’ve been around for 20 years now and what’s separated us from others is not being shy to go there,” said Mishka cofounder Greg Rivera. “There’s a call to action to get men to check themselves, but the art and characters are really fun.”
Rivera said he and cofounder Mikhail Bortnik had been studying the crypto space for the past four to five years and learned about blockchain during 2020. The duo minted a few NFTs, which led to introducing in December 2021 their Keep Watch Crew of eyeball characters inspired by their signature eyeball design that would appear on their hats and shirts. “That project was helpful for this current project,” Rivera said.
The duo created a number of traits for the characters, such as a smile or sad face, or the wearing of a hat or bow tie. One of the benefits of minting on the Solana network, according to the Mishka cofounders, is the “flexibility to manipulate post net,” meaning the characters can change after being minted.
“The concept gamification that Movember is doing with this is to encourage you to do self-tests,” Bortnik said. “You’ll basically check in and your NFT will earn. With this, you can gain or lose traits if you’re not checking and the Solana blockchain allows that.”
Movember partnered with Philips Norelco in October with the brand donating $550,000 along with 850 Philips Norelco shavers and funding for the charity.
“For years, Mishka has been known to push the boundaries on art, illustration and graphic design,” said Dan Cooper, director, innovation at Movember. “Creating an NFT that is both fun, while also getting a serious message across, was a tough brief but we think Mishka really nailed it.”
Cooper said testicular cancer is the most common cancer among young men and believes that the Non-Fungible Testicles reach the right audience. “It’s a fun way to remind people of a very simple action to avoid or identify a possibility of testicular cancer,” he added.
Proceeds from the sale and resale of the NFTs will go toward Movember. The charity has raised more than $1 billion since its launch in Australia in 2003, and has helped fund more than 1,250 projects around the world, including the Tiger trial, the multinational clinical trial investigating which of the two current and commonly used treatments is more effective in preventing death in men who show a relapse in testicular cancer.
“While proceeds from the sale of Non-Fungible Testicles will go toward Movember,” Cooper continued, “the main aim of us creating this project, is to raise awareness of testicular cancer, and get more men into the habit of regularly checking themselves.”
Mishka said other projects that will soon be released include Metacom on Be@rbricks for character Dennis the Menace and with German company Chrom on Kendamas.
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