1. Parade in underpants 2. ? 3. Fight cancer

Yesterday, I responded to a Facebook ad to strip down to my underwear for a good cause. (Who wouldn't?) It landed me at The Underwear Affair, a 5-city Canadian fundraising event "to fight cancers below the waist" (prostate, ovarian, and colorectal).


(More pics here)

The event takes place in Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. Being an Ottawa guy, I clicked on my local link to find out more. It's going on here this year on September 11 (odd choice) and has two events, a 10K run or 5K walk, for participants of all ages. The recipient is the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation.

The idea of the event is to be as fun, sexy or silly as possible.



(This one's from the original American version, in L.A.)

The Ottawa launch event, held on Sparks Street, is on YouTube:



As is the (stealth? 17 views?) promo video:



They also have a national Facebook Group and Twitter feed. The main corporate sponsor is Mark's Work Wearhouse.

So, will you get yer gitch on and join the cause? There is certainly no shortage of opportunities to do silly things to fight cancer. This particular one seems to have a lot of support out west, although the Ottawa media uptake seems a little underwhelming so far.

But then again, one should never underestimate the powerful combination of partial nudity and an important cause.