Think Before You Pink®, a project of Breast Cancer Action, was launched in 2002 in response to the growing concern about the overwhelming number of pink ribbon products and promotions on the market. The campaign calls for more transparency and accountability by companies that take part in breast cancer fundraising, and encourages consumers to ask critical questions about pink ribbon promotions.
Breast Cancer Action’s 2014 Think Before You Pink® campaign is a direct call to STOP THE DISTRACTION of pink ribbon marketing and culture. They are calling attention to the countless ways the breast cancer industry, and the culture of pink it has spawned, distract attention away from the bold action we need to successfully address and end the breast cancer epidemic and to achieve health justice for all women in all communities
Find out more: Think Before You Pink – Stop the Distraction
What companies and organization are unjustly using the pink ribbon as promotion tool?
If a company or organization that claims to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon product, but at the same time produces, manufactures and/or sells products that are linked to the disease. Over the past 10 years, Think Before You Pink® has changed the conversation around breast cancer cause marketing. The term ‘pinkwasher’ is now a common term used freely by many advocacies organizations and the media to describe the hypocrisy and lack of transparency that surrounds breast cancer fundraising and Breast Cancer Awareness Month. ‘Think Before You Pink’ campaigns have successfully targeted cosmetic giant Avon; car manufacturers Ford, Mercedes, and BMW; and Yoplait yogurt maker General Mills.
More resources from Think Before You Pink®
- Think Before You Pink Toolkit
- History of the Pink Ribbon
- Critical Questions to Ask Before You Buy Pink
Many thanks to Breast Cancer Action to providing the CCSN with the opportunity to share this information.