"Think Before you Pink"

I wanted to hold off making a post like this until we were very into October as I didn't want to dissuade anyone from doing what they thought was right.
As many people are well aware of October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We all know my cancer story (I've told it a million times twofold). Last October I was lucky if I was able to recite my name nonetheless form a thought or opinion.

However, over the months that followed I started doing some research. My research started out asking "Why is there a breast cancer awareness month, but no national campaign for any other type of cancer? Why do we not just have National cancer awareness month?" As I started researching what I kept coming across is to NOT "shop for a cure" because in essence, MOST of the campaign is a LIE.

Last year a book, written by Dr. Samantha King, titled Pink Ribbons, Inc. what the book revealed is that most of campaign is a sham. We've all done it. We've all bought yogurt because it had a pink lid, paid $5 to our company to wear Levi's, bought golf bag's, balls and clubs because they had the ribbon and the box stated "a portion of the proceeds of this purchase will be donated to find the cure." If you are like me you have felt wonderful making these purchases as you felt as though you were being a philanthropist and making a donation to a very important cause. Sadly, I have learned from reading cancer website after cancer website that many of our current corporations are using this marketing predominantly to increase sales.
An ABC News Report from last October pointed out that Campbell's donated a whopping 3.5 cents for every can of soup it sold. To raise a mere $36 to fight breast cancer from the Yoplait campaign, a person needs to eat three cups of yogurt a day for four months.
ABC (don't forget that MOST people forget to even send in the lid therefore making the point moot.
I can go on and on and on about how many companies play on your fear of someday getting cancer or prey on your heart because you know someone with cancer. The thing is, many of the very companies that pull on your emotions to buy pink items are part of the problem. The company that started the month is a pharmacuteical company that also creates an herbicide linked to causing cancer.
La la la, I can type out a dozen or so more examples but my point is
Think before you pink check up on how much of profits are being donated to breast cancer (and does that include the marketing and promotion money spent)? If you have doubt your best bet is to donate directly to Cancer.org
I hope I didn't turn anyone bitter or make you feel bad about your good intentions I just want to make people aware so that much needed money that would actually be donated to find a CURE would go to the right place.

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I completely see your point and I agree. Marketing is huge in this country.

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Deb, thanks for posting this. I know that in my house, we are certainly more inclined to buy "pink" things when they are available with the notion that our money is going to a good cause. What a shame that these people can't put aside a month's worth of profit to help a very serious cause.

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you know, I was JUST thinking about this the other day while at the grocery store. it seems like everything food related had a pink ribbon it. after a few aisles I started to wonder if this was a Marketing gimmick.

it's absolutely REVOLTING beyond belief that something so serious would be exploited!!

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You're not the only one that thinks this way! Don't feel bad at all!!! They actually did a news report about this the other night on tv. I will try and find it!

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Thank you for posting this. It amazes me to read things like this and sickens me to think that these corporations do such things. Sadly, it's true. They market these items knowing that people will purchase them, believing that they are making a difference, meanwhile the company is doing nothing but profiting from peoples good intentions. This is why fundraising efforts for so many non profit organizations are suffering. Well meaning people have been taken advantage of too many times and are reluctant to donate.

I absolutely agree with you that if people chose to donate, do it through cancer.org

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This is what is called "Cause Marketing", where a product chooses to affiliate themselves with a cause or charity, because a consumer will be more inclined to purchase one product over another, if they believed that a portion of what they pay will go to a good cause.

Yes, it's a marketing ploy, however it does not always come from a place of greed and capitalism. There are some companies/manufacturers that are incredibly socially aware and pride themselves on making a difference in our communities.

However, I do agree with Deb that the Think Pink campaign has gotten way out of control and that every manufacturer, retailer, etc. has jumped on the bandwagon. Where is the Pancreatic Cancer Awareness month-- a cancer that doctors AND patients don't know much about. Although again, not all companies are necessarily reaping benefits of their pink products. For example at Bloomingdales, there is a bracelet that is on sale for $100, and 100% of the proceeds go to breast cancer research. I believe there are similar products out there. You can also purchase a gift card where a portion of what you pay goes to charity, as well as a percentage of all sales made using the gift card. Do they want you to spend- yes, but you can feel a little better about spending.

I think that as consumers, we need to be responsible, read the fine print-- and not necessarily make a purchase decision based on a pink ribbon, or another message, on a package. You just can't believe everything you read/see on TV.

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I only buy pink items that say clearly on them how much of the profit is going to the charity.

And I agree there should be a universal Cancer awareness month.

I think its b/c of the high fast incline in BC rates everywhere. Its scary but IMO ..something is causing this incline and they should raise money b/c it is increasing substantially more then other cancers.

But I think not enough is done for other cancers and what happens is people are quick to donate if they can only choose one to BC b/c of its prevelant marketing campaigns.

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Randi- You bring up excellent points that I should have covered better. If the pink is attached to a product that you were already going to buy than by all means purchase the pink ones and get the (insert whatever amount) money donated to the right place. However, if you are unsure of a company and how they really practice and you are purchasing an item just because it has pink on it and y ou feel you are doing something for the community...check first The company may or may not be helping the cause.

A few prime examples adn questions to think about taken directly from the think before you pink site:

For instance, Cartier sold a “pink ribbon” watch for $3900, but capped its donation at $30,000 – after the company had sold 10 watches, consumers were no longer contributing to breast cancer causes.


How much money was spent marketing the product?
In a 2005 PR Week article, 3M touted that its 2004 breast cancer awareness effort, involving a 70-foot-tall ribbon made of Post-it Notes in Times Square, reached more than three million people and increased sales 80% over expectations. The article reports that 3M spent $500,000 on the marketing campaign (no actual numbers on profits were released), but only gave a little over half of that amount ($300,000) to the cause.

How are the funds being raised?
Every October, Lee Jeans proclaims a “Lee National Denim Day.” Participating companies allow their employees to wear jeans to work in exchange for a $5 contribution to Lee Jeans, which then sends the money to designated breast cancer organizations. According to its website, Lee donates the “net proceeds” that it has collected. What isn’t clear is how Lee defines net proceeds–e.g., are marketing and administrative costs deducted from funds raised?–or whether the company itself donates any money.

To what breast cancer organization does the money go, and what types of programs does it support?
If research, what kind? Are they the same studies we’ve been doing for decades that already get enormous financial support, or is it innovative research into the causes of breast cancer that is woefully underfunded?

If services, is it reaching the people who need it most? Campaigns that are not locally focused may siphon funds away from the community and give them to larger programs that are already well funded.

If advocacy and education, do the programs make steps towards ending the epidemic? Programs supporting “breast health awareness” ignore that we are already well aware that cancer is a problem and it’s time to move from awareness to action.

What is the company doing to assure that its products are not contributing to the breast cancer epidemic?
Many companies that raise funds for breast cancer also make products that may be contributing to the epidemic. Is the promotion a golf tournament on a golf course sprayed with pesticides? Is $1 being given each time you test-drive a polluting car, as in BMW’s Ultimate Drive Campaign? Are the products being sold cosmetics containing chemicals linked to breast cancer?

Contribute to a Cause, Not Cause-Marketers
Far too many marketing campaigns exist for it to be possible to trace the threads of profit for each, and it’s difficult to verify whether a promotion is legitimate while you’re standing in the store. Make the best choice you can with the information you have. If you have trouble getting answers or if you feel that a promotion is questionable, write to the company responsible, consider buying a different product, and tell your friends.

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Well, guess I was sucked into the "pink thing" today when we took over 60 cheerleaders and their families to Jones Beach.

There SHOULD be a general "cancer awareness" campaign, I agree.

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thanks for posting this

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Honestly, if something raises 5 cents towards medical research (such as breast cancer), then that's 5 cents closer to acheiving a goal than they were before.

Maybe its a marketing campaign, but it's also raising money that otherwise would NOT have gone towards that cause. I can't imagine boycotting something that (regardless of the percentage) raises money for a worthy cause.

look at it this way- for every 3 people that each yogurt once a day, in a matter of 4 months, they've helped to raise $36 with something they were going to eat anyway. Now, ALOT more than 3 people eat yogurt daily, so i'm thinking that they raise more than $36 every 4 months for breast cancer research.

Maybe there's animosity over breast cancer "getting all of the intention", but they've made great progress in understanding it, and every step close they get to finding a cure for breast cancer, is a step closer to finding a cure for all cancers.

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So, i just read that website, and i have to say i honestly think that its HORRIBLE that it even exists. I'm sorry- i know many people here possibley agree with it's anti-marketing theme, but it's so one-sided and lacks so much information, its very propaganda-ish (whatever the word is), and like i said in my other post, i just can't understand boycotting anything that essentially brings money to a charity that it otherwise would not have received.

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Neenie- My point is more about companies that are not donating what they tell the public they are. Again, I point out the watches I posted earlier
"For instance, Cartier sold a “pink ribbon” watch for $3900, but capped its donation at $30,000 – after the company had sold 10 watches, consumers were no longer contributing to breast cancer causes." However, Cartier never stopped the marketing and promotions saying that the money would be donated to breast cancer. In this specific instance at one point ZERO cents is being donated anymore. Therefore, some people are buying watches with the intentention of donating money when they aren't. THAT is what irks me.
Does breast cancer get more money/More PR and more everything? Yes! Am I jealous? Maybe. However, with all the progress that is being made MORE progress and donations to alternate medications/cures need to happen.
As you are in the medical field, I am not telling you anything you don't know but this is for others. There are a lot of people in this world that hear cancer and think all cancer is the same and all people receive surgery/chemo and or radiation. What some people fail to realize is that there are different types of chemo meds and different types of radiation machines. MORE money needs to be spent coming up with even MORE advances in meds and technology. When you donate directly to Cancer.org as a person you can be assured more than other methods that your money is in fact going directly to the cause.

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Posted by neenie

So, i just read that website, and i have to say i honestly think that its HORRIBLE that it even exists. I'm sorry- i know many people here possibley agree with it's anti-marketing theme, but it's so one-sided and lacks so much information, its very propaganda-ish (whatever the word is), and like i said in my other post, i just can't understand boycotting anything that essentially brings money to a charity that it otherwise would not have received.

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but the way i look at this whole pink ribbon marketing thing is- i'm not shopping for things just for the sake of it having a pink ribbon on it- i'm buying things that i would have bought anyway, and in turn, some extra change is going to a good cause. change that wouldn't have gone at all. and, we all know how that change can add up.
I see your point about the cartiers thing, but still.. that's $30,000 more towards finding a cure. Would it have been better if, instead, they said they were donting $10 per watch, so that they didnt reach the cap as quickly? I understand your frustration, but i still can't see the harm in money going towards research that otherwise would not have. And, i don't think that people should be disuaded (by the 'think pink' campaign) from buying pink products because that's essentially discouraging donations and in trying to boycott the marketing campaigns, breast cancer research is being punished. jmo

Message edited 10/21/2007 10:45:50 PM.

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Message edited 10/21/2007 11:03:49 PM.

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Well, to be honest, I don't think anyone should be shocked that the philanthropic things companies do during October are also marketing for the comapanies. I mean... that to me isn't news and isn't reason NOT to buy these things. Yes, check up on how much of the money is actually going to charity - but I don't think the fact that the company is still making a profit or using this to advertise is reason to shy away from their programs. (They are airing commercials about these things - of course that's advertising. Didn't anyone honestly think it wasn't?) With Yoplait, the point isn't that only a few people would be sending in lids and therefore have to eat yogurt ad naseum. Thousands of people eat their yogurt every day - the potential to raise money IS there.

I guess I don't feel anything that was posted was shocking or reason to totally shy away from any of these incentives. Keep buying what you normally buy and if they have a program to send back the lids or the bar codes or whatever, mail them in. Check up as to how much money is going to charity, as I'd hope you'd do with any other donation, and carry on as normal.

We can't all and won't all champion the same causes. Some causes get more press than others - doesn't make it any less worthy of a cause just because it's popular. At the same time, the "less popular" or less publicized causes aren't necessarily less worthy.

There are THOUSANDS of causes and issues we can get involved with -- Find one or two closest to your heart and work for them year round. That's what will really make a difference - not getting excited about a cause b/c it has an awareness month. At the same time, don't begrudge a cause b/c it happens to get more press.

Message edited 10/22/2007 8:37:07 AM.

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Deb, thank you for bringing up this point. I think it's great that companies will donate to charity when you buy something from them, but it's important to understand what percentage they are donating, as well as where the money is going. I know, at least the charity is getting some money, but we should know where our money is really going, especially if seeing a "pink ribbon" is inspiring us to buy something we normally wouldn't buy. It does seem like a great marketing scheme, since we as consumers are eager to do good and will be more inclined to buy a product if we think the money is going to a good cause.

I have been collecting the Yoplait pink lids, I did last year as well. I think I only collected maybe 20 lids last year- that's $2 minus the cost of the stamp. For this reason I won't go out of my way to buy the brand when it's not on sale (I'm not paying an extra 40 cents per yogurt to donate 10 cents!), but I will save the lids I do have plus I have asked a few co-workers for their lids.

A few weeks ago there was a thread about giving to charities and someone mentioned the Charity Navigator website, where you can compare charities and see how much their operating costs are versus how much they're bringing in. This seems like a good resource to choose a charity for a cause you're interested in, to make sure your money is doing the most good.

And although I do understand why breast cancer gets so much attention (the large number of people diagnosed each year versus some other cancers), it is sad that so much money and time is spent on this cancer when there are so many others. As you said, each cancer is different, so what works for breast cancer won't necessarily work for pancreatic cancer, or leukemia. I think the NIH (National Institute of Health- federally funded) is pretty good at funding research both at the basic level, understanding the basic mechanisms of cell growth, division, migration and death (important stepping stones to help lead us to better treatments and possibly cures), as well as funding research specifically focused on some less common cancers. Ok, so they also put a large focus on breast cancer, but there are some projects that are focused on less-common cancers.

Here is a link to the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Research Portfolio, a database of currently-funded projects, so you can see how many are focused on each type of cancer. They have a menu where you can choose the cancer, ok maybe not all cancers are on the list but there are many, for example there are 91 projects studying gallbladder cancer. If the cancer is not listed you can just enter it in as a key word. In addition, the CRISP Database is a database of every federally funded grant- if you click the "CRISP" box in the left corner you can enter search terms to look for grants on different topics (one warning, the descriptions are written by scientists so they're not very clear/simple sometimes). Being someone in the research field, I can tell you that most research is being done with funding from the federal government. This funding is threatened because of budget cuts- here is a link to the Friends of Cancer website talking about how the budget for the NCI (National Cancer Institute) was cut by $40 million this year. I think anyone who is concerned about cancer and wants to help should take this into consideration when stepping into the election booth. (ok let me step off my soapbox now) Anyway, thanks for the info, and I agree, this shouldn't stop us from giving, but remind us that we should be informed and learn where our money is going before we give.

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think before you do anything.

both Neenie and Deb make excellent points.

and sadly, yes companies play on your heart strings.

I am generally leery of any "campaign" that requires more than a purchase to have the company donate (ie those that require lids/proofs of purchase to be mailed in before that donation will be made) Too many people end up NOT following through, and the company is the benefactor. Not cool.

I am the coordinator of the Combined Federal Campaign in my office. I urge those that donate through this program to really research the charity (ies) of choice to make sure the get the most bang for their generous buck.

if you were going to buy the product anyway, DEFINITELY try to buy to give back...but follow through...and don't just buy b/c you get pulled in.

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Deb, I totally agree with you. Thank you for posting this.