The "pinkwashing" epidemic: when did breast cancer become so pretty?

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As I began to read through Audre Lorde's The Cancer Journals, I immediately thought of a discussion that I was a part of in one of my Global Health Studies classes.  We talked about how the "breast cancer awareness" movement affected women with breast cancer and who was benefiting from this movement.  We discussed different motives of the movement such as promoting different brands, companies profiting from selling "pink" products, and glazing over the hardships of breast cancer.  I started to do some research on this idea of the breast cancer awareness movement and how it affected women who have/had breast cancer.  I found a term that interested me which was "pinkwashing".  "Breast Cancer Action coined the term pinkwashing as part of our Think Before You Pink campaign. Pinkwasher: (pink'-wah-sher) noun.  A company or organization that claims to care about breast cancer by promoting pink ribbon product, but at the same time produces, manufactures and/or sells products that are linked to the disease." (Think Before You Pink, 2016).  This term came as a surprise to me.  Although I had already known of companies promoting pink ribbon products in order to increase their sales,  I had no idea that the products that they were selling could be directly or remotely related to the disease itself.  This information made me want to look closer into how women feel about the pink movement as well as the "prettiness" that is being attached to the disease.

In high school I was a cheerleader and we always got extremely excited for the month of October.  It was fall, the weather was beautiful, we got to cheer at football games, and best of all we got to wear the color pink.  Pink bow, pink shirts, pink shoes, and breast cancer ribbons were all a part of our attire.  It was finally Pinktober!  As I have grown and increased my understanding of breast cancer in college I have become less of a fan of the pink movement.  I support the idea of raising money for an absolutely great cause, but I believe that when companies raise money for breast cancer by selling pink products ALL of the proceeds should go towards breast cancer organizations/programs.  Through my research I discovered that most companies do raise money for breast cancer awareness programs, but they set a cap for how much money they will donate.

 "EXAMPLE: In 2010, Reebok marketed a line of pink ribbon emblazoned footwear and apparel at prices ranging from$50 to $100. Though it heavily promoted the fact that some of their pink ribbon product sales would be donated tothe Avon Breast Cancer Crusade, they set a limit of $750,000, regardless of how many items were sold, and therewas no mechanism in place to alert consumers once the maximum donation had been met."   (Think Before You Pink, 2016).

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I do not understand why they set caps for how much money they donate to organizations especially if they are profiting from the products regardless.  I am assuming it is in regards to increasing their profits, but I believe it is unfair to allow customers to think that they are donating when they may not be.  In addition to not only donating a certain amount of money to different organizations and research programs the products that they are selling may include toxins that can be linked to breast cancer.  To me that seems slightly far-fetched, but if toxins are linked directly to breast cancer and show signs of increasing one's risk then these companies have a duty to ensure that their products do not contain said toxins.

"Each woman responds to the crisis that breast cancer brings to her life out of a whole pattern, which is the design of who she is and how her life has been lived." (Lorde, 1). When looking into the pink movement and how it framed such a horrible disease I did not want to discredit it.  The pink movement has brought a lot of help and hope to many people and their families.  Although for some it brings help and hope, for others it was the opposite.  I read an article from the Women's Health Magazine titled The Problem with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month that discussed issues with the pink movement, specifically breast cancer awareness month.  It discusses most of the issues I have already talked about, but includes how a specific woman, Kate, felt about Pinktober. ""I didn't find it especially supportive," she says. "It draws a lot of awareness to a particularly sensitive time in your life-and the emphasis isn't quite where I'd like it to be." (Women's Health Magazine, 2014).  For some women Pinktober is a time where they feel they receive well deserved recognition and awareness of the battle that they are facing while others view it much differently.  This speaks to Lorde's emphasis on the fact that every woman's battle with breast cancer is different.

If you are interested in how women battling breast cancer or breast cancer survivors feel about the commercialization of breast cancer check out these sources: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/breast-cancer-awareness-month-isnt-always-empowering_us_561d2775e4b050c6c4a2e04c
http://www.curetoday.com/community/bonnie-annis/2015/10/pinktober

References:
4 Questions Before You Buy Pink. (n.d.). Retrieved May 01, 2016, from http://thinkbeforeyoupink.org/resources/before-you-buy/
The Problem with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. (n.d.). Retrieved May 01, 2016, from http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/pinktober
 Lorde, A. (1997). The cancer journals. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books.