New-look topes for 2017 Sunflower Day

A joint campaign run by Pick n Pay and the Sunflower Fund, the aim is to increase the number of critically needed donors registered on the South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR) to help save the lives of leukaemia and other blood disorder sufferers in South Africa through bone marrow transplants.

“The highlights for me over the years are the crazy campaigns we used to do, and the publicity stunts we pulled off to raise awareness. The worst and simultaneously best one we did was to tie a huge bandana over the nose of a Boeing 747 in the midst of a Cape Town storm. The gigantic banner made it onto the airplane, but with the storm it didn’t manage to take off,” said Suzanne Ackerman-Berman, director of transformation at Pick n Pay.

Too few success stories

“There are so many success stories to celebrate around this campaign, but it’s also important to acknowledge Pick n Pay staff who raised awareness by wearing bandanas, and now topes. And while we have fantastic stories of successes achieved, sadly there are still too few of them, because we just don’t have a broad enough donor base. We really should have more success stories to tell by now. While more people are aware of the need to register as bone marrow donors, there’s still a lot of ignorance about what a condition like this really is,” said Ackerman-Berman. “We hope to change that.”

Topes are on sale in Pick n Pay stores and on Pick n Pay’s online shopping site. They cost R25 and are manufactured by PnP Clothing. All the money raised from the sale of the topes goes to fund Sunflower Fund donors.