Debate & Controversy
Breast cancer is a worldwide issue, but there are very different sides as to how to deal with it. The Susan G. Komen foundation is known all across America because of the Komen Race for a Cure event. The idea of this foundation is to raise awareness and money to then donate to research and support of breast cancer patients. The pink ribbon is the foundation’s sigil it is a mark that everyone recognizes as the symbol of breast cancer awareness, just the color pink itself stands as an omen to breast cancer. Different organizations like the NFL and MLB show support by wearing pink jerseys and hats during October otherwise known as breast cancer awareness month. Mass sales are made off of pink sports apparel and raise money and a portion is then given to a breast cancer research organization. To many this is wonderful, it raises money and awareness, but for other people this is not the case. On one side is the pink campaign by the Susan G. Komen foundation that raises awareness and money for breast cancer.22 On the other side you have the Think Before You Pink campaign by Breast Cancer Action that created the term pinkwashing. According to their website a pinkwasher is “a company or organization that claims to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon product, but at the same time produces, manufactures and/or sells products that are linked to the disease.” This is important to know because consumers believe they are helping the pink campaign by buying products labeled with the pink ribbon when they do not know where the proceeds go to. Think Before You Pink asks people to question whether the money from their purchases actually go to support breast cancer. An example of this was in 2010 when Dansko shoe company sold pink ribbon clogs. The consumers believed that a portion of the money they spent went to a breast cancer program. However, no matter how much they spent it wouldn’t change the set amount of $25,000 Dansko donated to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, this donation was made regardless if the clogs if the clogs were bought or not the donation remained the same.31
Breast cancer is a worldwide issue, but there are very different sides as to how to deal with it. The Susan G. Komen foundation is known all across America because of the Komen Race for a Cure event. The idea of this foundation is to raise awareness and money to then donate to research and support of breast cancer patients. The pink ribbon is the foundation’s sigil it is a mark that everyone recognizes as the symbol of breast cancer awareness, just the color pink itself stands as an omen to breast cancer. Different organizations like the NFL and MLB show support by wearing pink jerseys and hats during October otherwise known as breast cancer awareness month. Mass sales are made off of pink sports apparel and raise money and a portion is then given to a breast cancer research organization. To many this is wonderful, it raises money and awareness, but for other people this is not the case. On one side is the pink campaign by the Susan G. Komen foundation that raises awareness and money for breast cancer.22 On the other side you have the Think Before You Pink campaign by Breast Cancer Action that created the term pinkwashing. According to their website a pinkwasher is “a company or organization that claims to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon product, but at the same time produces, manufactures and/or sells products that are linked to the disease.” This is important to know because consumers believe they are helping the pink campaign by buying products labeled with the pink ribbon when they do not know where the proceeds go to. Think Before You Pink asks people to question whether the money from their purchases actually go to support breast cancer. An example of this was in 2010 when Dansko shoe company sold pink ribbon clogs. The consumers believed that a portion of the money they spent went to a breast cancer program. However, no matter how much they spent it wouldn’t change the set amount of $25,000 Dansko donated to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, this donation was made regardless if the clogs if the clogs were bought or not the donation remained the same.31