Nov 08
Are we being pinkwashed? Hoodpinked
Cats: slack woman|The pink ribbon campaign is the successful marketing tool of breast cancer fundraising.
Each year products in stores are swathed in pink to support breast cancer research. Corporations donate a proportion of profits.
But there’s a backlash brewing against the pink campaign. And it’s happening on many levels.
Some stores cap their donations.
Some pink products contain ingredients or produce emissions linked to breast cancer risk.
Some people think the annual pink blitz crowds out efforts to raise awareness and funding for other cancers and diseases.
Here is my column on the subject
November 12th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
I’d love to read what you wrote on this topic. Any hope of reading the column without having to sign up for the newspaper?
November 13th, 2010 at 12:40 am
Zed, I’ve copied and pasted:
Is there such thing as too much pink?
Is there a problem with private corporations profiting from someone’s breast cancer?
Are we robbing the Peters of colorectal, ovarian, prostate and lung cancers to pay the Paul of breast cancer?
Should more money be spent on finding a cause for breast cancer than find a cure?
Are we being pink-washed? Hoodpinked?
These are some of the uncomfortable questions that swirled around this year’s October Breast Cancer Pink Ribbon campaign.
The Pink Ribbon campaign is phenomenally successful. It would be hard to rival its achievement for raising awareness and reducing the stigma for a disease that will strike 23,000 Canadians this year and kill 5,300.
And the amount money it raises for breast cancer is impressive. The Run for the Cure raised $33 million this year. The money is raised by volunteers.
Despite all of this, the Pink Ribbon campaign is spawning a backlash that seems to be picking up momentum.
The problem is not so much the Run for the Cure as the aggressive “cause” marketing strategy which links breast cancer to the interests of companies which display pink on their products.
Cause marketing is supposed to be win-win. Companies donate a percentage of profits to breast cancer and in return promote their products under the banner of a worthy cause.
But the reality isn’t always so worthy.
In her book Pink Ribbon Inc, Canadian health professor Samantha King argues that the market-driven Pink Ribbon campaign has turned breast cancer into an industry that promotes consumerism and sacrifices prevention and causes of cancer to the overarching cause of finding a cure.
King says that “Shopping for the Cure” sometimes leads people to believe have contributed more to breast cancer than they actually have. In some cases, stores cap donations leaving customers to think their pink purchase is helping breast cancer when no donation is made. In the US, some stores display the pink ribbon for awareness purposes only but don’t make this clear to customers.
A number of breast cancer groups have called for a boycott of pink ribbon products because some are made from toxic materials or ingredients associated with increased risk of breast cancer. They point to studies linking traffic exhaust to increased risk of breast cancer and say that the plethora of pink products have to be trucked to stores.
One such group in Montreal, has started an alternative Pink Ribbon campaign which encourages cosmetic companies to make products with non-toxic ingredients.
Because the Pink Ribbon campaign has been so successful in raising awareness, some say it has crowded out efforts of other cancers and diseases such as heart disease and stroke which take the lives of more women annually than breast cancer.
There has also been disillusionment from individuals with cancer who say they feel overwhelmed by the tidal wave of pink that washes over each October. Some fatigue of the constant reminder of their disease. Others resent the turning of their disease into a celebrity cause that boosts profits of corporations.
So where does this leave us? We want to support a good cause like ending breast cancer, but is the Pink Ribbon campaign too much of a good thing?
The San Francisco-based Think Before you Pink Campaign warns consumers to be vigilant. They should ask Pink Ribbon retailers how much of the purchase price will be donated and if there is a cap.
If they aren’t satisfied, they can always make a donation directly to a cancer charity. This will translate into more money for breast cancer than individual Pink Ribbon purchases and there is no need to buy something to help.
November 15th, 2010 at 12:44 am
Thanks, GT! An excellent article!
My sister died a few years ago from breast cancer and I have long felt and strongly agree that … “market-driven Pink Ribbon campaign has turned breast cancer into an industry that promotes consumerism and sacrifices prevention and causes of cancer to the overarching cause of finding a cure.”
This has driven me crazy over the years. As far as I’m concerned, cancer has always drawn big-business interests to see where they can get their cut of the incredibly large money flow. Some shameless activity has taken place over the years related to the name of curing/preventing/finding the cause of cancer.
I would love to see it all change and that the focus will return to preventing cancer and discovering its cause(s), but to be honest, I’m not particularly hopeful. What could possibly cause such a turnaround when–yes, I’ll say it out loud–money and greed are involved?
Sad. Very very sad.
December 1st, 2010 at 12:56 am
Tomorrow’s DECEMBER. Time for a new post.