September 15, 2011

The pinkification of October arrives early this year

It feels too early for my annual rant against cause marketing and the "pinkification" of October, also known as Breast Cancer Awareness month.

First of all: Who in western culture isn't aware of breast cancer?

Second: How will licking yogurt lids * help people like me?
* "Yoplait will donate $.10 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure® for each pink lid redeemed by December 31, 2011, up to $2 million. Only 25 codes per user email address per day may be entered online. Restrictions apply."
Whoopee. Why can't Yoplait just donate the money? And there are many other charities besides Komen that fund research in to the treatment of and cure for breast cancer.

So this year, when you see all the tempting pink ribbon crap on the market place, think before you pink. Ask the hard questions:

1. How much money from your purchase actually goes toward breast cancer? Is the amount clearly stated on the package?

2. What is the maximum amount that will be donated?

3. How are the funds being raised?

4. To what breast cancer organization does the money go, and what types of programs does it support?

5. What is the company doing to assure that its products are not actually contributing to the breast cancer epidemic?
Don't buy into the pink. Make your dollar really count through a donation. Here are two of my favorite breast cancer charities, oriented towards research. After all, that's what I need.

Breast Cancer Research Foundation

METAvivor

6 comments:

  1. Great post - I feel the exact same way. And many organizations put only a very small percentage of donations into research. The rest is delegated to administration fees and "awareness". You are so right - who in the Western world doesn't know about breast cancer awareness? We need to get this money into research and finding a cure.

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  2. I am so new to this.
    I always thought the "pink" thing was a good thing
    I am finding out more and more its just a marketing ploy for others to make big money. It's really kind of sad if you think about it.
    LOL about licking lids of yogurt :P
    Debbi

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  3. Yoplait only does it because it gets people to buy their products. Sure they could give money without the campaign but since they can use it increase their sales, they run it that way. This is the basis for the 'pinkification' of everything. Skip the yoplait or what ever it is and give money directly.

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  4. pink washing makes me so angry. Even before mets I felt so angry at the blatant attempt to raise more money to line the pockets of ceos, it is sickening how they victimize ill people. I wandering if I can repost your list of questions on my blog with a link back to your blog?

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  5. Leslie, of course you can re-post. The list of questions is from Think Before You Pink (http://thinkbeforeyoupink.org/?page_id=13).

    ReplyDelete

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