by Patty Osborne

August 9, 2012

pink ribbon inc.

The people in this photo are part of a huge and hugely successful marketing campaign that would have us believe that by wearing pink ribbons, walking to raise money, buying Yoplait yogurt, or even making a purchase in order to enter into a draw for a pink Ford mustang ("every warrior needs great gear"), we will move science toward finding a cure for cancer.

If you've ever pondered the question, "wouldn't it be more effective to find the causes of cancer instead of trying to find a cure?" then you should watch the excellent documentary Pink Ribbons, Inc., (an NFB film directed by Léa Pool) that shows us how companies like Avon, Revlon, Yoplait, Ford, Zeneca (part of the largest chemical company in the world) and others have succeeded in turning our fear of breast cancer into hugely successful advertising campaigns. And if you haven't ever pondered that question, perhaps you should.

So you buy a cup of Yoplait yogurt, clean off the lid, and send it back to Yoplait so that Yoplait will donate 10 cents to breast cancer research. The campaign lasts 4 months so if you sent in 3 lids per day for the length of the promotional campaign (4 months), Yoplait would donate $34. I  know this sounds like an elementary school math problem but if you do the math you realize it would be better to just write a cheque. And then there's the fact that, when Yoplait first jumped on the pink ribbon bandwagon, they were using milk from cows that had been given recombinant bovine growth hormone (RBGH), a possible contributor to breast cancer.

Then there are the big pharmaceutical companies who make money from the cancer treatment drugs they manufacture through one branch of their operations while through another branch they are producing potentially carcinogenic chemicals. Not to mention the cosmetics companies who are big boosters of pink ribbon events but who may be using chemicals that are linked to cancer—we can't say for sure because the cosmetics industry has no safety standards and companies' safety studies and risk assessments are not made public.

The film also takes on the "warrior, survivor" analogy that is so popular at pink ribbon events by introducing us to a group of women who have stage 4 cancer, which means they will never get to be "survivors." They will definitely "loose the battle," but surely they could have prevented this from happening if only they had had a better lifestyle—at least that's what the simplistic rhetoric of the pink ribbon would have us believe.

Despite the billions of dollars that have been raised by the Pink Ribbon Campaign, treatment for breast cancer is still a primitive and harsh mixture of surgery, chemicals and radiation. It's time that we started to think and ask questions instead of getting out our pink pompoms and parrotting whatever slogans the corporate marketers come up with.

Here's the trailer: http://youtu.be/3QPZfcYTUaA

Here's a clip: http://youtu.be/wc96Vp6Dux4

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by Patty Osborne

August 9, 2012

Latest Comments

  • End the Pink Ribbon Campaign

    Agreed, 1,000 per cent. Time to end the pink ribbon campaign once and for all. All good campaigns have a shelf life. This one is done and over. Time to focus attention on something far more productive that actually helps people and tells the truth. There aren't any known cures for cancer. There are only treatments, which, as the author points out, have remained fairly consistent: cut, poison and burn.


    Finding the cause suggests prevention, and to be crass and cynical, prevention just isn't sexy, and it tends to step on toes.

    But the other side of the story is the research itself and what it's pointing to: that what causes cancer -- most frustratingly -- can vary from person to person, even with the same exposures to the same carcinogens.

    I'd much rather that some fundraising campaigns be directed to helping women with breast cancer who lose their jobs and who can't pay the rent and their mortgages, who can't afford the drugs, who can't find the energy to cook and clean, who don't have the energy to look after the kids... you know, real, meaningful, on the ground practical help. Sadly, that's not sexy either.

    Posted by Frances August 22, 2012 08:55:08

  • Pink Ribbons, Inc

    Not long ago I witnessed a group of jolly Royal Bank workers on the sidewalk outside their bank in Sidney, B.C.. They had a BBQ set up and were selling hot dogs and pop to passersby. " All proceeds going to the BC Cancer Society", a sign said. Another said, "Help find a cure for cancer!" When I suggested that maybe they could try selling less carcinogenic food as a fund raiser I was met with cold stares - what a party pooper! What's with the celebratory air at these events? It's the same with "Fun Runs". Has everyone forgotten that these events are about cancer, a merciless, crap shoot disease? What's to celebrate? Then, as Osborne mentions, there's the corporate take-over of the disease. Even a piece of chewing gum containing aspartame now comes branded with the pink ribbon, an image that's taken on a bizarre sacredness. Patty Osborne is not only bang on in her essay, she's "dead" right. Let's focus on the causes of cancer - what we breathe, stick in our mouths, rub on our bodies, for starters...

    Posted by M.A.C. Farrant August 17, 2012 14:53:01

  • pink ribbons and breast cancer

    The world's leading cause of all cancers is never even on the list when any cancer is discussed - radiation. Radiation dangers have been known for decades with Rachel Carson (Silent Spring, 1963), Rosalie Bertell (No Immediate Danger, 1985), Helen Caldicott (Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer, 2007, and countless scientists whose work is largely ignored by governments and corporations.
    Radiation is everywhere, including naturally from the sun, which is mitigated by our ozone layer and by our own practices of limiting sun exposure. That is not the problem, the problem is the ever growing use of radioactive substances for everything including this computer, your cell phone, television and all other electronics, the x-rays you have at a physician's or dentist's office, nuclear waste which remains radioactive for up to billions of years, and of course, the only one we are really concerned about apparently, nuclear weapons, but all nuclear use is a weapon that is slowly killing and unpleasantly mutating us and all life. ALL of these are increasing and we have no idea, for the next 10 years or so, just how much damage will be caused by the Japan accident last year, because many of the cancers and mutations will only begin becoming evident in large numbers then. And of course, by then, the spokespeople will deny any connection to Fukushima and the earthquake of 2011.
    Please, readers, make a difference in the uses and decrease the acceptance of nuclear/radioactive substances wherever they are being advertised - who does not want an iphone or a blackberry, as the first example of good advertising of harmful products?

    Posted by Janet E Smith August 16, 2012 13:59:08

  • Cancerland

    This immediately reminds me of Barbara Ehrenreich excellent 2001 Harper's article "Welcome to Cancerland" http://www.barbaraehrenreich.com/cancerland.htm

    Posted by Thad McIlroy August 09, 2012 17:35:48

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