Originally published Oct. 14, 2009, I’m republishing this post in honor of this year’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Will we cure cancer by — buying stuff? Feel-good pink products — from yogurt cups to teddy bears — are now ubiquitous, promising to send a portion of what you spend on your purchase towards funding cancer research. But many environmentalists concerned about over-consumerism and product safety are raising questions about whether all these pink product purchases are in fact a positive step for human health.
That’s why campaigns like Breast Cancer Action’s Think Before You Pink are getting more attention. Started in 2002, Think Before You Pink, by its own description, “calls for more transparency and accountability by companies that take part in breast cancer fundraising, and encourages consumers to ask critical questions about pink ribbon promotions.”
After all, it’s a lot easier to simply spot a pink ribbon on a product than it is to figure out exactly how much you spend on a purchase will go towards cancer research. Buy a pink ribbon Swiffer, for example, and a mere 2 cents gets sent to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, points out Kate Dailey in Newsweek: “I would have to buy 500 Swiffer wet thingies to make a $10 donation.”
The often puny donation amounts that allow companies to “pinkwash” their products serve more as a marketing ploy than as a real tool for combating cancer, according to Barbara Brenner, the executive director of Breast Cancer Action. “Nobody who buys this stuff is stupid,” Barbara tells Newsweek, “But they’ve been told by corporate America that buying solves the problem.”
Even more disturbing is the fact that some pink-ribboned products contain substances that have been linked to — cancer! In Newsweek, Barbara points to four questionable product categories cashing in on the pink craze:
Cosmetics companies that use substances that have been tangentially linked to breast cancer; automobile companies (Ford, for example, which has its Warriors in Pink breast cancer awareness program) since there are toxins coming out of the tailpipe; dairy companies using bovine growth hormone rbGH; and alcohol manufacturers who cash in on pink “when we know that too much drinking” can lead to breast cancer, says Brenner.
Barbara isn’t alone in pointing out this irony. Stacy Malkan, cofounder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, discusses the problem of cancer-linked ingredients in cosmetics in her book Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry. The same companies that refuse to take cancer-linked ingredients out of their products are the ones cashing in on the cancer research-linked pink ribbon marketing!
Does this mean that you should avoid all pink-ribbon products? Not necessarily. After all, Breast Cancer Action’s campaign is called THINK Before You Pink, not DON’T Pink — and the campaign site even has a handy PDF of questions to think about before pinking. Certainly, money for cancer research is needed — but think carefully before you buy to make sure the pink product you’re picking up’s actually doing more good than harm. I for one would much rather buy organic yogurt from my farmers’ market than pick up a pink-lidded Yoplait cup. And that’s even after Yoplait made its yogurt free of cancer-linked rBGH — after Think Before You Pink activists put pressure on the company.
So if you’d like to donate $10 to fight breast cancer, don’t buy 500 Swiffers. Instead, consider donating that money directly to groups like Breast Cancer Action, Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, and Environmental Working Group — all of which work to limit environmental exposures that put people at risk for breast cancer. That way, more money will go towards reducing the number of people who get cancer in the first place, less to companies cashing in on a do-gooder campaign.
Photo by TheeErin
I saw pinkwashed vodka in BevMo the other day and laughed out loud. My local grocery store now has pink strings you can buy (yes, a piece of pink string) – there’s not even a product associated with it; it’s just a waste of cardboard packaging and string that had to be shipped to a bunch of grocery stores.
Another sad reality with pinkwashing/Komen is that the organization doesn’t even attempt to raise awareness to PREVENT cancer, they’re just looking for a cure. I’m guessing this is because they are funded in part by pharmaceutical companies, and treatment & cures make those companies a lot of money. Helping people prevent cancer doesn’t make them a dime.
Comment by Anonymous — October 14, 2009 @ 8:18 pm
This is good advice for anyone who is tempted to buy something just because a usually small percentage of the prices goes to a charity. I’d rather make a regular donation to the organization than the 1% of a $1.00 sales price goes to find a generic cause. I want to know what specific organization is going to benefit so I can research it and see if the organization is what it says it is.
For example, I’m not sure how Komen works in Anonymous’s city, but 75% of the money raised by KomenColumbus, my local affiliate, during it’s Race for the Cure stays in Columbus. It funds local education, cancer screening and treatment projects. 25% of the money goes to the national level for research. So while I won’t be buying socks or yogurt for the cure because I’m not sure how they will use the smidge of money that get from me or where it will go, I will continue to participate in my local Race for the Cure because I know that money’s going to stay in my city and help my neighbors.
Comment by Condo Blues — October 14, 2009 @ 9:27 pm
Great article! It is important to know how much of a donation you’re making with the purchase. Most people would be shocked. Why not just send a check to the cause instead?
Comment by Kim — October 15, 2009 @ 2:55 pm
Anon — I agree totally with the frustration about how the pinkwashing peeps really don’t seem at all concerned with preventing cancer — when cancer rates are so much higher now than they were, which points to environmental issues! That’s why we really need to put our money towards orgs that are working to actually address the prevention issue (some are named above).
Condo Blues — Sounds like you are very much thinking before pinking :) and making sure your money actually goes to a good cause — and encourages people to stay active and focus on experiences (vs. buying potentially cancer-causing stuff).
Kim — I hear you — One thing that’s difficult about this is that many people are unlikely to go out of their way to write a check to a cause, vs. buy something that automatically sends money to a cause. This is why I’m not just straight up against cause marketing — it’s just that with the pink ribbon stuff, the cause isn’t really benefiting as much as it should. If pink ribbon stuff demanded more meaningful donations from companies, shunned carcinogenic products, and focused on funding prevention, it could actually be pretty good cause marketing that lets people easily put money towards a good cause. Unfortunately, this is far from the case right now….
Comment by Siel — October 19, 2009 @ 5:55 pm
I’m with you on this one Siel. Why buy products that are dirty & merely green-washing? I can’t understand why, with all we know about how chemicals cause cancer and other diseases, ALL manufacturers aren’t doing everything possible to produce goods that will not ultimately harm us. And even more than that, I can’t understand why the majority of consumers are so ignorant to the facts!!
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Comment by Trudee Lunden — October 15, 2010 @ 10:40 am
This is how I felt with the Starbuck’s RED campaign for AIDS drugs in Africa. If they had just published they were doing it, fine… but all the cash they spent on new aprons, cups, billboards, marketing… That money could have made a HUGE impact… At 5 cents or 15 cents or whatever per drink, it seemed shameful to me. FAIL.
If, on the other hand, I am planning on buying yogurt I will buy the pink version-but not if I have to save the lid, wash it, send it in, how much is wasted there by me and the USPS…
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Comment by Robert Stockham — October 27, 2010 @ 4:52 am
In the Swiffer example, it’s true that, of the approximate $20 purchase price, only 2 cents went to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, but are you aware that the 2 cent donation was ONLY made if the consumer used a special coupon to make the purchase?
Swiffer claims that the total donation was not limited, but doesn’t the coupon limit it? They control the number of coupons printed, and they have a very good idea, in advance, what the redemption rate should be.
Think Before You Pink should ask “How many of the people who bought the pink package without the coupon, bought it because they thought they would be helping the cause?” Probably most. Then, “How many of those people might have otherwise felt obligated to make a donation to breast cancer research, but after buying the $20 pink package, felt that their obligation had been met, and didn’t make a donation?
Now, of the 2 cents that was actually donated on the coupon purchases, “How much went to overhead costs (like big salaries, offices, company cars, travel, entertainment, etc.) for Komen?” Probably a significant percentage. And, of the small amount that may have been left, “How much of that went to ‘awareness’ programs executed by Komen, rather than to breast cancer research?” – And “Isn’t ‘awareness’ pretty much Komen promoting the pink packages of those brands that participated in their program?”
After all this, it probably doesn’t leave much for breast cancer research. One final question for “Think Before You Pink” to ask – “Is it any wonder why there is no cure yet?”
By the way, Komen’s tagline is, “…for the cure.” – Ironic, isn’t it?
I hate to knock Swiffer because it’s a Proctor & Gamble brand, and P&G is truly one of the most reputable marketers in the world, but if this is what “cause marketing” has become to P&G, we can only imagine what some of the other less reputable marketers are doing with it.
It’s no wonder Carol Cone recently said “Cause Marketing is Dead” – If it isn’t dead, marketing tacticts like this will eventually kill it.
Comment by Anonymous — December 3, 2010 @ 6:44 pm
UNBELIEVABLE! Horrific! You made me start crying reading this! I’m on a relay for life team with 12 mambers of the team in a small po dunk town and My team alone with the help of sales and merchandise that WE DONATED to our team has raised 50,000 dollars toward cancer and THINKING PINK!!!!!!!!! We are #1 in the state of OKLAHOMA and are in the running ofthe top ten with 7 states in the united states of AMERICA and we did it because of donations and purchases!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So you make me sick!! My friends are getting rides and gas cards and help with groceries and medicines because WE BELIEVE IN PINK!
Thank you very MUCH!
Jenny Moore
Woodward, Ok!
THINK PINK!
Comment by Jenny Moore — August 31, 2011 @ 1:27 pm