Comments on: Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Don’t Drink the Pink Kool-Aid

By: Going pink for October: empowerment or pinkwashing? | A green living, green parenting blog

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:09:59 +0000

[...] (and me and everyone) to stop and think about breast cancer: how to reduce your risk, what are the signs and symptoms to watch out for, how to support someone going through treatment, and what research is being [...]

By: coffee with julie

coffee with julie — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:59:00 +0000

I’m glad you stopped by, Meg. The more pink I see on products, the less powerful the actual message becomes. It’s getting diluted, isn’t it?

By: Meg

Meg — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 22:30:00 +0000

great post! it’s so important to be critical of what we buy, especially in a society where people will try to make money off of anything. spreading awareness and spreading education is so valuable in the fight against cancer – not so much wearing a bracelet that says ‘Boobies’.

By: Going pink for October: empowerment or pinkwashing? |

Going pink for October: empowerment or pinkwashing? | — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:18:25 +0000

By: Coffee with Julie

Coffee with Julie — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 23:57:00 +0000

I am trying to be critical with what I buy, so this seemed like a topic I should look into. I’m really glad you found it useful joann.

By: joann@womaninreallife

joann@womaninreallife — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 22:22:00 +0000

I totally agree with you about the pink products. We definitely need to consider what we buy and how much money actually goes toward helping people. I think it is wonderful that you are sharing information to increase education and awareness.

By: Coffee with Julie

Coffee with Julie — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:46:00 +0000

Giulia, Yes, it’s an important distinction (i.e. “we are not pinkwashing!”) that I’m sure must frustrate those working hard behind the Run for the Cure foundation. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.

By: Julie Harrison

Julie Harrison — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:41:00 +0000

Thanks for stopping by, Jessica. I couldn’t agree more that some of the campaigns just seem terribly insensitive — like the “Save the Ta-Ta’s” campaign … geez, aren’t we trying to save a life, here? If I’d just had a mastectomy, I can’t imagine I would appreciate this campaign one bit.

By: JessicaGottlieb

JessicaGottlieb — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:31:00 +0000

This is a fabulous starting point. Thank you for pointing this stuff out as well as leading folks to more great resources.

I, for one, resent the idea that breast cancer should be cured when it could first be avoided. Slapping a pink ribbon on a known carcinogen drives me batty. Also, all this talk about saving the boobs… how does that help a woman who just had a mastectomy? Is she less of a woman now?

Arrggghhhh… great post.

By: Giulia

Giulia — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 18:03:00 +0000

I totally agree and as part of me volunteering for the CIBC run for the cure we had that discussion many times with our committee members and the foundation. The foundation does see that although pink merchandising has been a great help for them to raise awareness over the past 20 years, they are also very concerned about the ‘pink washing’ with no clear understanding of where the funds go to. They are putting into place more strict guidelines and hoping that the partners they affiliate with are more clearly identified so consumers know the funds go to the Foundation or where else it goes.
I found it particularly enlightening this year to see that the funds raised by the foundation here in Ottawa are going to grants in our region and that some amazing work is being done. Cancer in general is a horrible disease, breast cancer in itself will affect 1 in 9 women here in Canada. Thanks for your post and for additional information the run site and foundation site are also a resource: http://www.runforthecure.com/site/PageServer?pagename=2011_About_Us and www.cbcf.org.