Kao Corporation, Kao Customer Marketing Co., Ltd., Kanebo Cosmetics Inc., and Kanebo Cosmetics Sales Inc. will carry out a campaign entitled "Kao Group Million-Person Pink Ribbon Campaign" from October 1, 2008 to November 30, 2008. This is the second campaign this year, as Kao Group's social contributions towards supporting women's health. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the need for early detection, diagnosis and medical treatment of breast cancer.

In Japan, the number of women with breast cancer is increasing every year. Based on statistics, a Japanese female has a one-in-twenty chance of getting the disease. Demographically, it is prevalent among young Japanese women in their 30s and 40s. The disease should be considered a problem not just for individual women but also for their partners and families.

Breast cancer can often be cured if it is detected in the early stages. Therefore, women should know how to perform self-diagnosis of their breasts, and awareness of preventions to be raised.

Total of 10,000 in-store Beauty Advisors (Kao) and Beauty Counselors (Kanebo), the largest among any other beauty care company in Japan, will wear original pink ribbon badges and hand out leaflets in person, encouraging women for self-diagnosis who visit their sales counters.

Through this activity, Kao Group aims to further promote the importance of early breast cancer detection to customers. In the previous campaign, the company received positive comments from visitors, i.e., "I have been concerned of the disease; however, I did not know how to perform a self-diagnosis. I want to try it immediately," or "I came to know that I could perform self-diagnosis through this campaign for the first time."

As Kao focuses on its policy "Kao Health Declaration" to provide rules on health issues among its employees, it will be also used as a chance to promote the importance of early detection of breast cancer to Kao Group employees. The promotion activities will be implemented using leaflets and videotapes as well as holding seminars.

In-store promotion activities in last year

Outline of Million-Person Pink Ribbon Campaign

Leaflet for raising awareness of the need for early detection of breast cancer

Kao's original pink ribbon Designs submitted by Kao employees (During the campaign, relevant staff members of Kao's Sofina® and est® brands and Kanebo Cosmetics will wear Kao's original pink ribbon budges on the collars of their uniforms.

* Pink Ribbon is the symbol of a campaign started in the 1980s in the USA to raise awareness of the need to eradicate breast cancer by detecting the disease in its early stages. In the 1980s, it was said that a woman had a one-in-eight chance of getting the disease. The campaign was started by people who had lost family members to breast cancer. Its aim is to raise awareness of the need for early detection of the disease. The pink ribbon was introduced in hope of preventing such tragedies. The campaign has spread all over the world. In Japan, a number of companies and local governments have participated in the campaign as efforts to reduce the number of women succumbing to breast cancer every year.

During the campaign, a video clip entitled, "Means for early detection of breast cancer," is distributed online:
http://www.kao.co.jp/pinkribbon/ (Only Japanese)
In order to increase the number of accesses to the website, the page is accessible with mobile devices.

Media inquiries should be directed to:

Corporate Communications Department
Kao Corporation
Tel: +81-3-3660-7043
Fax:+81-3-3660-7044

International Public Relations Section
Kanebo Cosmetics Inc.
Tel: +81-3-6430-5183
Fax:+81-3-6430-5222