Companies often capitalize on breast cancer awareness
Come autumn, warm colors like brown and orange come to mind. Crisp, earthy leaves, golden apple cider and deep orange pumpkins are intertwined into perceptions of fall. October, however, is now branded by an additional color — pink. Breast Cancer Awareness Month, sporting a pink-ribbon mascot, annually takes place in October. But instead of advancing real change, many companies continue to exploit one of America’s deadliest diseases for their own gain.
Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death among women (but can also be found in men). According to the New York Daily News, it occurs when cells grow abnormally and attack healthy breast tissue. The ultimate danger lies in metastasis, where cancer cells spread to other parts of the body.
Of the 220,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer each year, nearly 20 percent will likely lose their lives to the disease.
In the name of combating cancer, companies invest millions of dollars in breast cancer awareness. This disease makes its way to the human conscious through a plethora of corporate-funded activities. Make-up companies such as Avon and Revlon host walks throughout the year. Yoplait encourages its consumers to collect yogurt caps, which in turn are compiled as a donation marker. A spectrum of other companies — from rifle makers to car companies — participates in similar efforts.
Even though the U.S. population is led to believe they are supporting a worthy cause, how much is everyone really doing to fight breast cancer? Though Avon and Revlon support many communities affected by breast cancer, they act hypocritically by selling products containing the same carcinogens that research has linked to breast cancer. The Yoplait platform, according to Ecouterre.com, donates only a dime for each yogurt cap collected. It would be more efficient for consumers who want to donate to breast cancer research to write a check instead of eating exorbitant amounts of yogurt. Whatever call to action other companies proclaim comes with fine print as well.
These companies capitalize on a very painful disease. When October is decorated with pink everything, it trivializes breast cancer. The “Save the Ta-Tas” and “I Heart Boobies” campaigns obsess over the idea of breasts. When the correlation between saving lives and the means to do so is sexualized, it degrades those women fighting the disease.
With marketing product campaigns come spokespeople telling I’ve-been-cancer-free-thanks-to-this-company stories as the face of the campaigns. There is a social expectation for celebration in breast cancer, for women to put on a strong front, and yet, many ignore the terminally ill. Nowhere do we hear about the struggle and the treatment people undergo. Many feel repressed by a tyranny of happiness.
The final result is awareness, which provides nothing to society’s most hopeful goal — a cure. Yes, there are many positives of being cognizant of the disease, such as encouraging regular mammograms and creating a sense of unity among breast cancer survivors. The best way to battle breast cancer is through action, not inaction.
So next time you’re faced with an inundation of Breast Cancer Awareness products, think before you pink.
Danni Wang is a freshman majoring in health and humanity.
Follow us on Twitter @dailytrojan
The basic problem is above and beyond the way Wang depicts it here.
The entire breast cancer awareness movement is misguided. They never raise awareness about what the prime cause of breast cancer is: medical x-ray exposure. They never tell women that the real scientific facts on mammography show a whole different story than what they medical establishment keeps telling them (read Rolf Hefti’s e-book “The Mammogram Myth: The Independent Investigation Of Mammography The Medical Profession Doesn’t Want You To Know About”).
But the do continue to raise awareness among the public that they need more money to “finding a cure” and to “fighting breast cancer.” It’s the perfect business for both the medical industry and the pink ribbon organizations: it generates a never-ending influx of money based on continually misleading the public with disinformation…
Awareness does save lives. This article assumes that people know about breast cancer and/or get checked regularly. I’ve heard many stories of how the awareness especially during October has inspired people to go get checked resulting in saving their life. Yes a cure is the ultimate goal, but awareness is very important as well. I disagree with this article entirely. Why blame the companies? At least they are donating. Trust me, the people that buy yogurt are going to buy it whether the company donates or not. They just want yogurt.
It is so tiring to read another article hating on corporations.
I wonder if the author also hates on Angelina Jolie for publicly talking about her double mastectomy. After all Angelina did put a brave face forward – something that is apparently objectionable to the author. Also, I wonder if the author feels Jolie did this in part to gain publicity for her “brand” – she is a movie star after all.
Yes – corporations look for a business case in what they do. Why has making money become such a taboo? Wanting to make money in today’s social climate is what masturbation is to young teens – we all want to do it deep inside but we absolutely don’t admit it openly to others.
You have hit on my favorite subject! Given the science behind dairy consumption and breast cancer proliferation, Yoplait should pull it product from the shelves in October.
Before this month even began, I was seeing all kinds of pink. As a result, I wrote this http://anewme515.blogspot.com/2013/09/breast-cancer-awareness-month.html, offering a possible alternative to handling this month – or even donations in general. I think a lot of people want to help. They just don’t really know how, or know the things they need to know about those organizations they give money to. I just had a thought. I think I am going to go write another blog entry. Thanks for what you wrote. Hopefully you will give people something to think about before sharing their money in a way that only helps the company or organization, and not the individuals affected by the disease.