Pinkwashing (breast cancer)

Pinkwashing is a form of cause marketing that uses various pink ribbon logos that represent support for breast cancer-related charities.[1]

This term is associated with companies that use the pink ribbon or the support of breast cancer charities as a marketing technique to promote one of their products, while at the same time manufacture products that either contain ingredients that are linked to the disease or are used in a manner that associates it with the disease.

As the largest organization monetizing breast cancer, Susan G. Komen Foundation and its licensing of a proprietary trademark pink "running ribbon" logo and "...for a cure" slogan on a wide range of products have drawn close scrutiny.

Etymology

The term, a portmanteau of "pink" and whitewashing, was first coined by Breast Cancer Action (BCAction). On thinkbeforeyoupink.org, a project of BCAction, ‘pinkwasher’ is defined as, “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.”

Advertisement and Marketing Controversies

One of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) largest supporters is the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation. "Since the Foundation began, it has supported NBCAM’s goals of public awareness, public education, knowledge sharing and greater access to services in the fight against breast cancer." [2] However, some scholars question the true intentions of AstraZeneca. In Phaedra C. Pezzullo's article "Resisting “National Breast Cancer Awareness Month”: The Rhetoric of Counterpublics and their Cultural Performances",[3] the Toxic Links Coalition (TLC) disapproves of AstraZeneca being NBCAM's initial supporter for two reasons. First, AstraZeneca is the manufacturer of the world’s best selling cancer drug in which also produces many of the toxins causing Breast Cancer. Second, AstraZeneca has profited from the promotion of mammograms which is also what might be causing breast cancer. "For this reason, TLC emphasizes the importance of stopping the production of carcinogenic, toxic chemicals." (Pezzullo 353)

Komen promotions which have drawn criticism include Houston-based fracking equipment vendor Baker Hughes $100,000 sponsorship for a campaign with the tagline “Doing their bit for a cure”;[4] opponents insist that hydraulic fracturing itself extracts oil and gas using a mixture of water and chemicals, including known or possible carcinogens.[5] Similar concerns have been raised about automobile manufacturers as sponsors,[6] as vehicle exhaust contains carcinogens.[7]

Komen’s own Promise Me perfume has also drawn Breast Cancer Action's ire, as the label fails to disclose that the product contains galaxolide and toluene.[8]

The "pinkwashing" issue is not limited to Komen and its sponsors. In 2007, the Estée Lauder Pink Ribbon Collection series used a donation to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) to promote products containing parabens, chemicals linked to breast cancer. In 2012, the Food and Drug Administration had connected 5-Hour Energy Drink, a caffeinated energy shot promoted using a Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC) sponsorship as cause marketing, to thirteen deaths and serious injuries including heart attacks.[9]

In 2008, Think Before You Pink launched an online campaign against Yoplait, the national sponsor of Susan G. Komen's annual walk. Their pink-lidded yogurt was sold to raise money for breast cancer but was made from dairy containing the hormone rBHG. With enough pressure from the public General Mills, the manufacture of Yoplait, pledged to go rBHG free.[10]

In 2010, Komen partnered with KFC briefly on a "Buckets for a Cure " campaign. In response, Breast Cancer Action launched the "What's the Cluck?" campaign.[11] Breast Cancer Action, argued that although Komen's intentions may have been to promote KFC's new grilled chicken and vegetable meals, the same pink buckets held fried chicken which can be attributed to high-fat diets linked to cancer risk. Komen contested and saw the marketing as effective because they were able to reach women who were not brought in by other advertisements in their neighborhoods like the billboards or the spokesperson at their church.[12] KFC's pink buckets of chicken helped Komen raise $4 million, she says; money from partnerships such as this allowed Komen to provide screening mammograms to 600,000 women last year. [13]

Notes

  1. ↑ http://thinkbeforeyoupink.org/past-campaigns/buckets-for-the-cure-2/
  2. ↑ http://www.astrazeneca-us.com/responsibility/astrazeneca-healthcare-foundation/national-breast-cancer-awareness-month
  3. ↑ http://comphacker.org/pdfs/338/12021472.pdf
  4. ↑ "Women's health advocates denounce Komen Foundation's partnership with Baker Hughes". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  5. ↑ "Komen is supposed to be curing breast cancer. So why is its pink ribbon on so many carcinogenic products?". Washington Post.
  6. ↑ ABC News. "Pink Washing Is Real and It Hurts [Commentary]". ABC News.
  7. ↑ "IOM Report Has Familiar List of Known Breast Cancer Risks". WSJ.
  8. ↑ http://bcaction.org/raise-a-stink/
  9. ↑ "Breast Cancer Awareness Month Brings the Usual 'Pinkwashing' and Unethical Cause-Marketing Partnerships". The Huffington Post.
  10. ↑ "Think Before You Pink » Yoplait: Put A Lid On It". thinkbeforeyoupink.org. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  11. ↑ http://thinkbeforeyoupink.org/past-campaigns/buckets-for-the-cure-2/
  12. ↑ http://www.forbes.com/sites/amywestervelt/2011/11/04/the-pinkwashing-debate-empty-criticism-or-serious-liability
  13. ↑ Komen's pink ribbons raise lots of green, many questions; Survivors, groups ask world's largest charity fighting breast cancer to be more sensitive USA TODAY July 18, 2011 Monday

See also

References

    External links

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