Dame Deborah James has called for major brands to follow suit with M&S’s decision to display symptoms of bowel cancer on toilet paper packaging.
On Tuesday, Lorraine Kelly shared a pre-recorded message of the former deputy head congratulating her friend Cara Hoofe who submitted the idea to M&S’s “Straight to Stuart” employee suggestion scheme.
In a piece to camera, Ms James said she was “really proud” of her friend and she urged for toilet paper to have information printed on them.
She said: “Congratulations Cara. I’m so pleased that you are talking about the hard work you have put in and what you have achieved.
“I know we’ve both gone through bowel cancer, we’ve spoken so many times about getting the signs and symptoms on loo roll but you finally did it and I am really, really proud of you for doing that.
“It’s the start of things to come. I think we should do a big shoutout to other companies now saying ‘Come on! Where’s your signs and symptoms?’”
“Forget about the puppies – I’m bored of the puppies. We need like actual information signposted on those loo rolls.
“I’m hoping that lots of the other big brands will now go yeah, hang on, this makes massive sense. This is what we need to be doing. I can’t wait to see that happen. A massive, massive well done to you girl.”
Lorraine Kelly was joined by the M&S employee, who was first diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in 2016, in the ITV studio to discuss the inspiration of her campaign.
On her friendship with Ms James, she said: “We’ve kept in contact through messaging throughout our treatment and she’s been a support to me and I really hope I’ve been a support to her as well.
“This whole idea for the loo roll came off the back of how Deborah carries herself in everyday life.”
She added: “I’m probably a little more reserved than Deborah and follow processes, and when I submitted the idea, I sat there and thought, she’d just tell me, “It’s not good enough. What can we do?” I then swiftly got in touch with our chairman and CEOs and tried to create a noise around it and it worked.”
M&S will also be making a £50,000 donation to Bowel Cancer UK.
