• by Les Luchter , July 7, 2026

A year after launching its “Check for Cancer” initiative equating checkered patterns with cancer screening reminders, Aflac plans to enter the fashion field this fall with “the hottest look of the season”: a limited-edition, Rachel Zoe-designed garment featuring a QR code seamlessly integrated into a checkered pattern.

The code, when scanned, takes consumers to CheckForCancerNow.com, a just-launched site that includes educational materials, risk assessment tools, and a teaser video for the Zoe partnership, which Aflac has dubbed “Fit Checks.”

Aflac didn’t say what kind of garment Zoe -- former stylist to the stars and current “Real Housewives of Beverly Hill” cast member -- would be designing. But leave it to the multi-skilled entrepreneur to reveal the answer herself via her long-running publication, The Zoe Report: it’s a one-of-a-kind bomber jacket.

Zoe also noted that the jacket will be unveiled in mid-September (which happens to coincide with the annual New York Fashion Week) and that it will be given away in a sweepstakes, which those who complete a cancer risk assessment at CheckForCancerNow.com can enter.

The Zoe Report said the jacket will incorporate “chunky hardware and Aflac’s signature bright blue hue to ensure it felt fashion-forward.”

Explaining the need for “Fit Checks,” Aflac pointed to a survey conducted for it by Kantar Profiles,  which found 59% of Americans admitting they avoid important health screenings; 94% said they have delayed a checkup or recommended health screening.

According to that survey and statistics from the American Cancer Society, one in three people will develop cancer in their lifetimes, yet more than 90% have put off getting a checkup or recommended health screening despite many cancers having five-year survival rates above 90% when found early.

“Check for Cancer,” which launched last September with a goal of increasing cancer screenings in the U.S. by 10% by 2035, has had at least two other participating celebrities: University of South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley, and Fox Sports commentator/cervical cancer survivor Erin Andrews.

Andrews, diagnosed with cancer at 38, also served as an example of how the disease is affecting younger and younger people, Aflac Chief Communications Officer Ines Rodrigues Gutzmer told Marketing Daily last year. “That’s a concern because young people are the ones more likely [to say], ‘that’s not going to happen to me. I’m young and active,’” she said. “So one of the things we want to do is talk to younger demographics.”

The overall aim of the latest campaign iteration: to associate the checkered patterns people see every day with what Gutzmer termed a “movement” to increase cancer screenings.

Here’s a “Check for Cancer” video that features such scenes as a chessboard, with the winning player proclaiming “checkmate”; a patron at a checkered-tablecloth restaurant asking the waiter for her “check, please”; a child pointing up at a checkered-patterned kite while proclaiming “check that out”; and two women saying “raincheck” in unison outside a box office that sports a “sold out” sign.

Aflac has long had a stake in people getting checked for cancer. The company, after all, invented the cancer insurance category way back in 1957, Gutzmer said.

According to the Aflac survey, people overall don’t get screened due to “lack of time, but most times it’s fear,” she related. “People prefer not to know, not to have a piece of bad news. But cancer screens are our best line of defense."

“We want to get to a point where people can just not avoid seeing the checker pattern, and book their appointment to get checked for cancer, and keep their appointment.”