Think Before You Pink

After 20 years and millions of dollars spent on breast cancer reserach, over 40,000 women in the US die from the disease every year. And contrary to what you might expect from such a well-funded, high-profile health effort, that number is increasing. By now, the ubiquitous pink ribbons, pink teddy bears, and pink everything that pop up around October—Breast Cancer Awareness Month—and on a smaller scale year-round should have raised enough money to fund some real groundbreaking research into preventing and treating the illness. Right?

That's the basis of Think Before you Pink, a campaign spearheaded by Breast Cancer Action and journalist Barbara Ehrenreich that takes on the corporate cooptation of breast cancer "awareness," the mismanagement of research funds, and the hypocrisy of companies that join in the fight against breast cancer while selling products shown to contribute to its prevalence—in particular, cosmetics containing phthlates and other hormone-disrupting chemicals. The campaign, which debuted in 2002, poses a few crucial questions to those seeking to battle the epidemic: How much money raised by corporate fundraisers actually goes to the cause? Who gets the money? What are they doing with it? And is consumerism really the best road to a cure?

Although millions are raised for breast cancer research every year by the Avon Walk For Breast Cancer and other such campaigns, nobody seems to really know how much money is being raised (and spent), or where it goes. In the case of AvonÕs walks, over a third of the money grossed goes right back to Avon to cover overheadÑand most of the money left over goes to large centers that are already well-funded by the government and pharmaceutical companies. Furthermore, the research may be all but worthless, because it is not coordinated with what other facilities are doing; thereÕs no oversight to ensure that a lab in New York and a lab in California arenÕt simultaneously spending money on the exact same research.

And then there's the phenomenon of pink branding. Marketing campaigns Òfor a causeÓÑbreast cancer prevention or anything elseÑoften simply exploit a disease to sell products. Throwing a pink ribbon around the same old product will make it sell, whether the company donates 10% or 1% of the proceeds toÉwell, anything. Corporations have learned that the important thing is instilling in the consumer a belief that by buying their product, sheÕs actively doing something to fight breast cancer. As Barbara Brenner, Executive Director of Breast Cancer Action points out that Òas long as we believe weÕre doing something meaningful about breast cancer by buying into these corporate marketing schemes, the real work that needs to be done around treatment, prevention, and access to care will continue to be under-funded and ignored.Ó

This isnÕt to say that decades of breast cancer activism have all been for naught. Brenner and Ehrenreich point out that the breast cancer awareness movement has made some crucial gains (including the abolition of particularly dangerous surgical treatments)Ñbut these gains only came about because affected women were willing to openly fight for them. In short, as Brenner and Ehrenreich argue, ÒWe didn't win women the right to participate in their treatment decisions by Ôracing for the cureÕ or wearing pink ribbons.Ó

This article originally appeared in LiP Magazine. All rights are reserved to the author. Please do not reproduce without her permission. Just ask. Chances are pretty good she'll let you do it.