Visit StacheAct.com and join us in Washington, D.C. on April 1 for the the March.

The American Mustache Institute is spending President’s Day on Capitol Hill launching the “Million Mustache March” campaign seeking adoption of the Stimulus To Allow Critical Hair Expenses, or STACHE Act. 

The STACHE Act would provide a $250 annual tax deduction for expenditures on mustache grooming supplies in the determination of Adjusted Gross Income. The Million Mustache March campaign supports implementation of the STACHE Act through:

1. An online campaign at StacheAct.com where U.S. taxpayers are encouraged to add a past presidential mustache to their Facebook profile photo.
2. An April 1 physical march of one million Mustached Americans from the U.S. Capitol to the White House (register here).

Celebrities ranging from legendary musician John Oates (see his PSA here) to actress Ellie Kemper of “The Office,” Major League Baseball player John Axford, and others have agreed to create campaign-style videos supporting the effort, as for each participant in the Million Mustache March – either online or in Washington on April 1 – H&R Block has agreed to make a contribution to Millions From One, which provides clean drinking water to people who cannot obtain it.

The STACHE Act is based on a 2010 white paper, “Mustached Americans And The Triple Bottom Line,” authored by Dr. John Yeutter Ph.D., CFP®, Associate Professor of Accounting and Tax Policy at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Okla.

Dr. Yeutter’s research suggests the largely facial-hair-barren U.S. Congress — 34 people of facial hair in the U.S. House of Representatives, only John Hoeven in the U.S. Senate, and 26 states without Mustached American representation — has previously provided tax incentives for specific societal segments whose efforts enhance economic growth. Fortunately, H&R Block believes in supporting these tenants.

“We’re very serious that Americans should never settle for less when it comes to getting the tax deductions they’re entitled to,” said Scott Gulbransen of H&R Block.  “That’s why we are supporting the American Mustache Institute’s STACHE Act movement by making charitable contributions to Millions From One for every participant in the campaign.”

The campaign is based on arguments made in Dr. Yeutter’s groundbreaking white paper, “Mustached Americans And The Triple Bottom Line,” and will be outlined at a news conference on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol.

WHAT: Press event announcing major tax policy campaign effort.

WHEN: Monday, Feb. 20, 2012, 1 p.m. EST

WHERE: West Lawn (spot #1) of the U.S. Capitol (location subject to change)

CONTACT: 877-STACHE-1 or 314-583-5050 / Info@AmericanMustacheInstitute.org.

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About Dr. John Yeutter: Dr. John Yeutter, Ph.D., CFP®, is Associate Professor of Accounting and Tax Policy at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, where he teaches tax policy, tax planning, and retirement planning.  He holds an MAcc and PhD in Accounting from the University of Oklahoma and is a member of the Oklahoma Society of CPAs and the Financial Planning Association, a regular contributor to CPA Focus, and serves as a Board member of the Tulsa Chapter of the FPA.

About AMI: The American Mustache Institute (AmericanMustacheInstitute.org) is the world’s only facial hair advocacy and research organization, with more than 600 chapters and 10,000 global members. AMI battles negative stereotypes and discrimination against the Mustached American race. Based in St. Louis due to the presence of the world’s largest mustache – the Gateway Arch – the organization is committed to recapturing the mustache’s glory years of the 1970s, when there existed a climate of acceptance, understanding, and flavor saving for Mustached Americans.

The festival will be be held immediately before the fifth annual Stache Pag on March 30, 2012 and the film selection committee must receive all film submissions by March 24, 2012. This festival is open to film makers the world over. The finalists will have their 8 minute or less films shown and judged at the festival. The winner will be chosen and awarded a cash prize.

“This is an important moment in moustache history,” says Dr. Jacobs. “Never has there been a film festival dedicated to the unique art of filming the mustached male (or female). The American Mustache Institute would like to congratulate the IMFF for it’s efforts to preserve the mustached arts.”

Film categories include: Best Foreign Moustache Film, Best Growth Story, Best Collection of Moustaches in One Film and Best Fake Moustache Movie.  The beneficiaries of the festival and 5th Annual Stache Pag will be Northeast Historic Film, MENSK and Mystache Fights Cancer.

For more information, watch the video below or visit Stachepag.com.

Walt Disney, Mustached American

The new policy takes effect Feb. 3 and eliminates a facial-hair ban that has for decades been a source of grumbling among some of the company’s male theme-park workers, as well as the broader facial hair community.

“The discriminatory hand of a company that was ironically founded by a Mustached American — Walt Disney himself — has just been set aside,” said Dr. Abraham Jonas Froman, chief executive officer of the American Mustache Institute. “We’re proud that we could stand up for our brothers in facial hair.”

As an initial demonstration of good faith in negotiations, the company began inching back from its ban on facial hair in 2000, when it finally decided to allow mustaches.  Disney’s new policy restricts any facial hair to no more than a quarter of an inch in length. And the company says any chin whiskers “must create an overall neat, polished and professional look” and must be fully grown in and well-groomed.

Ironically, the rigid code was instituted in 1955 by Walt Disney himself, a self-loathing Mustached American who felt the need to distinguish his theme park from what he called “filthy carnies.”

While publicly Disney said it finally relented on beards in response to requests from its employees, or “cast members,” AMI’s Dr. Froman and other members of the organization’s staff and administration had been meeting with Disney officials for the past few months finishing off an agreement that was long-coming.

“Disney Look guides are periodically reviewed, given the unique environment of our theme parks and resorts,” Disney spokeswoman Andrea Finger said. “While we’re careful to maintain our heritage and the integrity of our brand, a recent review of our guidelines led to a decision that an update was appropriate at this time.”

Disney doesn’t tinker with its look lightly: Changes are typically made only after the company has studied similar guidelines at other theme parks and Fortune 500 companies. The last major change occurred two years ago, when the company finally allowed female workers to forego wearing panty hose when wearing skirts — a rule that had been particularly uncomfortable for women working outside on steamy summer days in Central Florida.

Carry on.

What are you lookin' at?

Today, ironically on the birthday of one of the greatest Mustached Americans in history, AMI chairman Dr. Aaron Perlut appeared on KTVI FOX-2 in St. Louis to further discuss the inherent power of the lower nose sweater and what can be expected from Fisher’s reign in the shadow of the world’s largest mustache — the Gateway Arch.

To see the video, click on the photo below.

Dr. King was many things, most notably the most influential civil rights leader in American history.  But as the American Mustache Institute’s Dr. Aaron Perlut told The Atlantic Magazine, Dr. King was also one of the most influential Mustached Americans in history.

Indeed, it’s been well documented that the 1970s was the glory decade for Mustached Americana, as all U.S. men had three things: a perm, a turtleneck, and a mustache. But white America abandoned the lip sweater as a facial hair accoutrement and fashion element after 1981, while black America did not.  And this was largely because the most influential leader in black America up until that point was Dr. King, who of course wore a mustache for most of his adult life until his murder on April 4, 1968.

So in honor of MLK Day and Dr. King’s contributions to the free facial hair movement, AMI visited a meeting of the largest Pentecostal denomination in the U.S. — the Church of God In Christ — to examine the popularity of facial hair within the black community in America.