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By Karuna Jaggar, Executive Director
It’s Cancer Of The Breast Industry Month and also the pink floodgates have opened up. And again we ask: what have these pink ribbon products and promotions accomplished for women coping with and vulnerable to cancer of the breast?
Together, through the years, we’ve altered the landscape of pink ribbon marketing. Pinkwashing has become a family group word. People realize that a person always has to “follow the money” in pink ribbon marketing. We’ve uncovered the hypocrisy in pink ribbon fundraiser and achieved some momentous wins against corporations.
This October, we’re taking it further and targeting a number of the most crazy pink ribbon promotions that exemplify everything that’s wrong with pink ribbon culture. We’re calling the empty awareness, the misinformation, the profiteering,the pinkwashing, the degrading of ladies, the “tyranny of cheerfulness” that hides the tough realities of the disease.
We’re tired of marketing giants raking in vast amounts of pink ribbon dollars while women continue being identified as having and die out of this disease.
Pink ribbon culture distracts from significant progress on cancer of the breast in six fundamental ways:
Pink ribbon products spread empty awareness. “Awareness” has unsuccessful to deal with and finish the cancer of the breast epidemic. Who isn’t conscious of cancer of the breast nowadays? Pink ribbon trinkets on store shelves that promote “awareness” ultimately change nothing. We’ve ample awareness, although not nearly enough action that can make a substantial impact on whether women get cancer of the breast or survive it. By looking into making the general public think “awareness” may be the finish goal, pink ribbon culture defuses anger about cancer of the breast and it is devastating impact, and distracts us in the significant actions which will achieve health justice for all of us all. Oriental Buying and selling, for instance, is spreading empty awareness via its endless way to obtain plastic pink ribbon trinkets – the organization pockets the money from all of these sales!Rather more meaningless gestures that defuse righteous anger and draw attention away from us in the real issues, we want bold action to deal with and finish the epidemic.
Pink ribbon promotions spread misinformation. Whether by over-inflating women’s chance of developing cancer of the breast, distributing the parable that “early recognition is the best protection,” concentrating on a 5-year cure rate for any ailment that remains a danger within a woman’s existence, or any other methods for happily fudging the data, many pink ribbon promotions neglect to tell the entire truth. These inaccuracies allow pink ribbon marketers to control consumers’ feelings through fear-mongering and false promises—in order money products. The National football league, for instance, is spreading misinformation about cancer of the breast by repeating disproven and misleading assistance with mammography screening within their “Crucial Catch” campaign.Cancer of the breast campaigns must offer evidence-based information that doesn’t fuel fear or offer empty promises within the start to sell pink products.
Corporations exploit worry about cancer of the breast to make money. Each October, marketers make the most of people’s sincere worry about cancer of the breast to earn money and generate good publicity. Companies sell products, make profits, and seek customer goodwill by claiming of looking after about cancer of the breast. Yet, many of these promotions ultimately benefit corporations way over they assist women coping with and vulnerable to cancer of the breast. By making use of our generosity and genuine need to help, these businesses avoid transparency about in which the pink ribbon money goes and too frequently leave consumers not able to precisely assess the promises produced in product advertising. Kohls’ recent “Pink Elephant within the Room” promotion, for instance, was outrageous profiteering it exploited concern for ladies impacted by cancer of the breast to create millions for the organization.Companies and non profit organizations must recognition people’s good intentions with full transparency and accountability within their cancer of the breast fundraiser and marketing.
Some pink ribbon goods are associated with causing cancer of the breast. Years back, Cancer Of The Breast Action created a phrase with this, pinkwashing: the crazy corporate practice of promoting products associated with an elevated chance of cancer of the breast while claiming of looking after about (and benefiting from) cancer of the breast. It’s crazy and deeply hypocritical for businesses to earn money and gain customer goodwill from items that increase the chance of the disease they’re saying of looking after about! Alhambra Water, for instance, is pinkwashing by selling plastic polycarbonate water bottles that have BPA, a hormone-disrupting chemical associated with cancer of the breast.Firms that claim that they can worry about cancer of the breast should make certain their very own services and products don’t increase women’s chance of cancer of the breast.
Pink ribbon promotions frequently degrade women by objectifying and sexualizing women’s breasts and physiques. From “save the boobies” to “save the ta-tas” to “save second base,” campaigns such as these demean and insult women—and draw attention away from in the true focus of saving women’s lives. They highlight narrow standards of beauty (thin, white-colored, able-bodied, and youthful), illustrate women as coy sex-objects and too frequently promote the fantasy of “perfect” breasts. These sexy/cute campaigns hide the resided encounters of ladies in most their diversity and complexity. Dale earnhardt jr ., for instance, is selling cancer of the breast awareness t-shirts that say “Check Your Headlights” which degrade women by objectifying and sexualizing women’s breasts and physiques.We have to recognition women’s wealthy complexity and full diversity, instead of obsess over narrowly defined parts of the body in mind of cancer of the breast campaigns.
Pink ribbon culture obscures the tough reality of cancer of the breast by developing a single story of triumphant survivorship according to positive thinking, beauty advice, and sanitized, carefully selected pictures of women coping with the disease– and often women who don’t have cancer of the breast. Cancer of the breast isn’t pretty and pink, and lots of ladies who “fight hard,” “fight just like a girl,” and then try to “beat breast cancer” develop metastatic cancer but still die in the disease. Cancer of the breast is just lucrative when it’s palatable, and also the pink ribbon hides the devastating, harsh reality that a lot of women and themselves coping. Hooters’ breast cancer campaigns, for instance, obscure the tough reality of cancer of the breast your clients’ needs a tale of triumphant survivorship according to positive thinking, beauty advice, and sanitized, carefully selected pictures of women.We have to value all ladies coping with and vulnerable to cancer of the breast and recognize hard realities of cancer of the breast, including and particularly metastatic disease.
If these marketing giants really care about addressing cancer of the breast, they’ll Steer clear of the Distraction! They’ll take bold action, provide evidence-based information, be accountable and transparent within their fundraiser, stop degrading women, value women’s diversity, and prevent hiding the tough realities of the disease.
Have a stand from the industry that’s benefiting from our goodwill, profiteering off this ailment, and distracting the movement from significant progress on cancer of the breast.
Regardless if you are joining us the very first time or really are a lengthy-time Cancer Of The Breast Action activist, appreciate following through around and demanding real progress on cancer of the breast.
P.S. Once you let these pink offenders understand what you consider cancer of the breast campaigns, come along on Facebook and Twitter and share our “Stop the Distraction” graphics together with your buddies and family and allow the world know the reasons pink ribbon promotions do more damage than good.
Resourse: http://thinkbeforeyoupink.org/2014/10/think-before-you-pink-stop-the-distraction/
