The Pink Punch Strikes Again
I don't really have a point with the rambling I'm about to sprawl across this web page. It's more of an observation, but I am interested in hearing what you have to say. The whole thing has me standing around with my panties in a wad, which is a terribly uncomfortable way to exist. There's a part of me that thinks I should just chill, but there's also that part that has Opinions and Stuff and those Opinions and Stuff include already being on the record about pinkwashing.
I hate it.
With every fiber of my being.
I hate the way companies throw hundreds of thousands of dollars at marketing "Breast Cancer Awareness" products and then turn around and maybe donate a couple of dollars to some organization that claims to exist in the interest of making everyone more "aware" of the terrible, terrible disease.
Some of us are very much so aware of it already, thank you very much.
I think my opinions on the whole thing are very well represented with this (thanks Allison!). Why are we spending millions on "awareness" when we could be spending millions on prevention? There is a lot of science behind prevention and there could be so much more if we focused on that avenue instead of trying to figure out ways to squeeze pink ribbons on our packages of yogurt.
Don't get me wrong -- if you have been touched by breast cancer and the pink ribbons bring you solace, or help you feel less alone, or whatever, that's fantastic. That's not the part that bothers me. It's the part where we throw a pink pair of shoes on an athlete and sell a pink jersey with his number on it that bothers me.
I'm looking at you, NFL.
The most recent statistic that I could find about the NFL's alleged "good intentions" found that for every $100 in pink merchandise the NFL sells, $3.54 goes towards breast cancer research. The NFL keeps $45. They say that money goes back to paying for the marketing efforts, but that gets us right back where we started -- for every $100 you give the NFL for pink stuff, they pass on $3.54 to breast cancer research. Maybe it would be more efficient if you bought that black and gold jersey and just gave $5 to a cancer research organization? You'd save a few bucks in the deal and more would go to research.
I've stopped watching NFL games in October because of it all. The pink shoes and towels and flags and ALL OF IT ... it just makes me crazy.
But lots of people haven't stopped watching.
Including little kids.
The little kids who dream of growing up to be football players or cheerleaders or whatever see the pink and they want to be just like those people they look up to. They want to follow along.
So there is pink stuff everywhere, even at football games played by first and second graders. The cheerleaders are in on the action, with pink bows in their hair and sometimes pink pompoms swishing around.
Alexis is one of those cheerleaders. She's standing there with her pink bow, not really knowing much of anything about what it means. She just knows "it's cute," so I suppose we need to have some conversations about prevention and the grandmother she never knew and how she is at risk because genetics are a bitch.
Which just means maybe the pink bows aren't such a terrible thing after all if they spark a conversation or two.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Reader Comments (15)
I love the way your mind works.
Can I just nod and say yes.
Because.. yeah
Totally agree with you. Companies promoting all the pink stuff often have toxins in their products linked to breast cancer! Don't get me started on the silly Facebook memes.
I despise this month. It is such nonsense. Take ALL that money you spent to design, market & sell your pink crap and give it to any legit cancer research facility. Preferably a local one, and we have plenty around here, where the money goes to actually helping treat and prevent cancer. It's a marketing ploy. And an embarrassingly effective one.
I thought it was great a few years ago when the boys on my son's football team (10-11 y/os at the time) took it amongst themselves and bought pink duct tape and wrapped it around their wrists and/or shoes. And some had pink shoelaces. No money, no promotion...just boys, some of whom had been touched by cancer, deciding to do it on their own. And it spread thru the league. Now...it has spread into the mainstream, but it seems to be strictly a marketing ploy. "Lets see how much Pink stuff we can sell and make more money" all under the guise of "breast cancer awareness." SHAME ON THEM for using cancer to boost their bottom lines. Take 100% of those "pink profits" and donate them to research for a cure, and maybe make a REAL difference to REAL folks instead of padding your bottom line.
I am totally with you on this one. I hate all the hype and commercialism behind pink October. I've repeated so many times to people not to ever buy me the pink stuff. It's a shame how much it sells for and how little actually goes to research, prevention or screening. It makes me sick thinking about it. Yeah it can be a great conversation starter, but it would be so much easier to donate directly to these orgs
I hate it. Why the frak would I buy pink ANYTHING? I have purple hair for chrissake. But that's beside the point. I think it's a really flimsy way for many people, who are too lazy to research good breast cancer charities/research arms, to feel like they're doing something good, when in reality they're not.
It's sad that a lot of us are sheeple. Maybe if the NFL players did a little research and refused to wear them and just donated part of their salaries, that would have more meaning. I don't know.
Quite a few years ago, I pulled up at a stoplight next to a BMW covered in Susan G. Komen Foundation decals--one of their "official" vehicles. That was when I figured it out. Even as a kid in college, I could put two and two together. Our donations probably helped buy that car. Call it spite, but I haven't donated to Komen since.
All the pink doesn't bother me, as long as people realize what's going on. Which, I think there is much better awareness of the past few years.
Buying / wearing pink for awareness, support, whatever = fine.
Misleading consumers into thinking that a significant portion of the dollars they are spending actually goes to the cause when it doesn't = not fine.
I can tell you after my mother's diagnosis I spent a few years wearing pink bracelets, pink ribbon socks, pink shirts, and the like. It helped me process what was going on. My mother, on the other hand, has never worn a pink ribbon a day in her life. I think for her it was about not being defined by the cancer.
Could not agree more.
You know how I feel about the pink crap.
And of course, Komen is a total crock and makes me livid.
The biggest thing is this: We don't NEED awareness. WE ARE FREAKIN' AWARE. We need science. We need nutritional studies, we need stem cells, we need new drugs, we need long term studies on the causes and how to prevent it; we need actual research, not pink "awareness" stickers or shirts or jerseys or shoes.
I agree with you totally, and I thank you, and Allison, very much for the link to some medical science discussion on current cancer research. I very much like to read thoughtful discussion on big topics, not just marketing fluff, which is so much of everything we hear or read in widely published media.
Thanks again!
Amen, sister. AMEN. Watch the documentary "Pink Ribbons".
HATE IT. Won't buy it. Won't give any money it.
You hit the nail on the head. The entire Komen foundation is a scam based on a fraud. SGK was unknowingly pushed (post-mortem) into martyrdom by her enterprising sister, who then trademarked pink freaking ribbons and the words "for the cure," and will sue the pants off anyone who uses them without their permission. Not to mention how much of what they take in actually goes to fighting breast cancer (just over 25%, check out guidestar.org) It's a shame because most people know someone affected by this horrible disease, and "awareness" isn't enough, because there isn't a damn thing you can do to prevent it.
The one thing I do like about the whole pink in the NFL craze is that it legitimizes pink as a color choice for boys. Which makes my friend's gender nonconforming kiddo SO effing happy to see other men wearing pink!
at one time we needed awareness. one time YEARS ago. we are aware. "breast cancer" no longer needs to whispered. WE ARE AWARE. now lets get to putting funds to research...