Pink Ribbon Articles

The Politics Behind the Pink Ribbon - MSNBC October 22nd, 2008

"The saturation of breast cancer awareness has left even some survivors dismayed. Writer, social critic, and former breast cancer patient Barbara Ehrenreich has called the movement “an outbreak of mass delusion,” and “a cult.”

“The products — teddy bears, pink-ribbon brooches, and so forth — serve as amulets and talismans, comforting the sufferer and providing visible evidence of faith,” she has written."

Pink Ribbon Promises - Time Magazine 2006

"Jarmoska is not alone in her suspicion. A growing number of breast-cancer activists and organizations have become concerned that the pink ribbon-- an emblem of breast-cancer awareness since 1992--has been hijacked for marketing purposes, a phenomenon that some call pink washing. Last year the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the nation's largest private charity focusing on breast cancer, urged consumers to start asking questions like how much of the money they spend on pink purchases will actually go to charity, what kind of activities does the charity support and what has its record been?"

Yet Komen still supports pink washing...?

"Pink washing creates a dilemma for charities like Komen, which raises about $30 million a year by working with pink-promotion partners."

Did I read that right? $30 million dollars alone from from ethically illicit marketing campaigns?

So that means we should take Komen's advice and ask Susan G. Komen foundation what percentage of their donations go to where.

More Links:
Susan G Komen Foundation (read the comments)
Boycott the American Cancer Society
BRace for the CurSe - The Cancer Scam 2004 (tech-archive.net)
Susan Komen Breast Cancer Walk - Sole commenter thinks breast cancer walk is a scam.
Business of Breast Cancer in the UK - BCAM Scam - 1993 this sounds like an ongoing issue.
Is Breast Cancer Awareness a Marketing Sham? 2007 - Consumerism causes breast cancer.
Shameless Liberal Scam

Extra:
Worlds Largest Pink Ribbon 2004 brought to you by 3M also known for Post-it-Notes and animal testing.

3M also provided vaccine technology this year for Safoni-Aventis, a fellow pinkwasher who also claim to do oncology research. Sanofi-Aventis also paid the U.S. government $190 million for pricing fraud of the drug Anzemet which primarily is coupled with oncology and radiation treatment.

More: How much petroleum product and plastic packaging is responsible for various types of cancers?

Photo by: Gare and Kitty
(Ironically a photo from Avon Walk for Breast Cancer)