Outrage against the pink machine

I finally watched Pink Ribbons Inc - a Canadian made documentary about breast cancer as the poster child of cause related marketing. (My apologies to AnneMarie over at Chemobrain Fog for taking so long to get to it but now I will pass it along to others.) My single thought on the film:

OUTRAGE

- how can they 'use' such a nasty disease to their benefit? The 'they' here are corporations who claim they are doing good but really are just using it are a marketing promotion. Here are a few quotes that stuck with me:

- one woman with stage IV breast cancer said there is 'no integrity' in this pinkification on where the dollars go. Companies make the money but how much really goes to the cure, who oversees the research to make sure they are a group effort in working towards something real instead of just dabbling at it in different parts of the world.

- Nancy Brinker really got me with this one. She said "until there is a cure, there is not enough pink." Oh, please. You just like wearing pink suits with your debutante Junior League hair style. We aren't talking about a paint color here. Its a real disease and you can't sugarcoat with some pink and make it cute. By focusing on the color pink you are ignoring the impact of the disease on women's and their families' lives. There is nothing pretty and pink about breast cancer.

I do like the advice that if you have breast cancer you should do something besides worry. Trust me I know this one well. Sitting around and stewing about your health - one ailment or 1000 ailments, does not help you at all. Going for a walk or a run to get in shape will help distract you and might even help your health and if the goal of a pinkified event will help you is fine if it works for you. But you could just send in a check and go for a daily walk with a friend or two and not be part of the pink machine.

My personal goal now is to avoid the pink machine as much as possible in my life.

Find a copy of Pink Ribbons Inc. You can buy it at Amazon now. You might even be able to take it out of your library. Have some friends over and be prepared to be outraged.