THE EFFECTS MEDIA HAS ON BREAST CANCER

The Effect Media Has On Breast Cancer

Morgan Clarke
12/11/14

In 2010, Dansko shoe company sold pink ribbon clogs. Consumers thought that a portion
of their purchase went to a breast cancer program. However, purchase of the pink ribbon clogs

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was not affiliated to Danskos donation; none of the sales went toward their set donation of
$25,000 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. No matter whether someone bought the clogs or not,
their donation was the same. Devon Ody (2008) states, Eureka vacuum cleaners launched a
campaign called Clean for the Cure, where a portion of their profits goes to help breast cancer
research. What they dont advertise in the campaign is that Eureka donates less than 1% of the
sales from the vacuum to breast cancer charities (Ody, p.1). Companies are using the pink
ribbon to benefit themselves and not actually donate funds to breast cancer research.
In the early 1950s, women who were diagnosed with breast cancer were humiliated, and
more often than not kept it a secret. They thought that people would think they were rotten if
they knew. Fortunately, now there is awareness of the disease all over the country and women are
willing to let people know. They want the support when going through this hard time in their life.
One organization that supports breast cancer is Susan G. Komen for the Cure. It is the most
widely known, largest, and highest-funded breast cancer organization in America. In reality
though,
Susan G. Komen for the Cure is a multimillion-dollar company with assets totaling over
$390 million. Only 20.9% of these funds were reportedly used in the 2009-2010 fiscal
year for research for the cure. Where does the rest of the money go? Lets have a look.
Health screening is 13.0%. Treatment is 5.6%. Fundraising is 10.0%. The largest chunk
of the pie is going toward public health education, 39.1% (Michele, 2012, p.1).
Public health means, the science of protecting the safety and improving the health of
communities through education, policy making and research for disease and injury prevention.
39.1% of that $390 million dollars goes towards the instruction of how not to get the disease. We
understand that people are aware of the disease now, but why not put that money to good use and

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donate specifically to the research of breast cancer? Who is actually doing the research to find
the cure as compared to who runs awareness associations? You never hear about donations
straight to an organization for the research; you only hear about the donations to the awareness
organizations. It could be argued that, that specific organization is in the right.
Komen for the Cure has helped train more than 400 breast cancer researchers and
funded more than 1,800 research projects over the past 26 years. They have provided
more money for breast cancer research and community health programs than any entity
besides the United States government, and Komen for the Cures goal is to energize
science to find the cures (Selleck, 2010, p. 122).
Yes Komen for the cure does say that they have funded over eighteen hundred research projects,
and have provided the most money for the cause of any other organization. But nowhere does the
organization say how much of that money goes to the actual research. One could be blind to the
fact that even more money goes to raise awareness for breast cancer than the research.
Another way of identifying this cause-related marketing scheme is pinkwashing, and it is when
a company takes the pink ribbon and uses it for the companies benefit. Amy Mccarthy (2013)
acknowledges that, The most common form of pinkwashing is when companies offer to donate
a portion of profits generated from pink-labeled products to a breast cancer charity. Often, the
company doesnt even tie their donation to sales of the pink labeled product. Instead, they will
use the product to generate goodwill toward their brand while making a pre-set donation
(Mccarthy). Companies use the products to benefit the brand while they have a predetermined set
amount of money. So it may be that no portion of the price of a pink ribbon product will go to
charity. A similar study was done by Before you Buy Pink where they claim,

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Some companies that indicate that a portion of the proceeds from the sale of a particular
pink ribbon product will go to support breast cancer programs put an arbitrary cap on
their maximum donation. Once the maximum amount has been met, the company may
continue to sell the product with the pink ribbon without alerting customers that no
additional funds will be donated to breast cancer organizations (Think Before you Pink,
2002).
A question that could be asked is: Do the companies make more money when selling pink items?
Yes, in fact companies that do sell pink ribbon products make more money. Once that set mark
has been made, the company will no longer be donating to charity; meaning that the extra money
the company makes from those pink ribbon products, will then go straight to their pocket. If they
make more money, it should be easier to donate to charity.
Companies make more money, especially during October. People are predisposed to
buying pink ribbon products to feel like they are helping. For example Selleck (2010) also brings
up this point of, The National Football League donned pink during October 2009 in support of
Octobers National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (Selleck, p. 119) bringing up the point of
the NFLs contribution to breast cancer and the pink ribbon. Smriti Sinha (2014) writes about the
NFL and their contribution, or in other words, little contribution to the pink ribbon donation
cause. As clearly evident, October is breast cancer awareness month and the NFL takes great use
of that month. You can come across products such as: towels, gloves, water bottles, face paint,
stickers, even cleats are pinkwashed items. Not only do the athletes show they are supportive but
cheerleaders do as well. With pink pom poms, face paint, shoes and socks. For football fans,
seeing popular players may make one feel like they want some of the products players have as
well. It is a marketing scheme that gets customers to fall for the idea that famous players have

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something in common with ordinary people watching the game from the stands or on the
television. And Sinha does not deny this fact,
This is how it works: The NFL donates proceeds from its awareness campaign, auctions,
and the NFL Shop to the American Cancer Society (ACS), which in turns uses that
money to increase awareness, education, and screenings for women over 40 (Sinha,
2014). Sinha later states, In fact, the NFL's claim of 100 percent proceeds from auction
and 100 percent proceeds from retail has translated to an average of just $1.1 million
every year since they partnered with ACS six years ago. That's less than .01 percent of the
approximately $10 billion the league made in revenue last year. And almost five times
less than what ACS' other partners, such as Walgreens, manage to donate to the same
programa program that, again, gives zero dollars to cancer research (Sinha, 2014).
Walgreens makes five times less than the NFL does in revenue but still manages to donate the
same amount of money. All of the rest of the money the NFL makes goes straight to their pocket.
This reminds us of the idea of pinkwashing. The NFL states that they give all of their proceeds to
charity, but in reality only gives less than .01% of the proceeds to cancer research. And even
then, instead of actually giving that donation to research, they give it to increase the awareness of
breast cancer. If everyone is already aware of breast cancer to the point where one buys the
products thinking they are helping finance a cure, why are the proceeds going to raise awareness
instead of the research?
Cause- related marketing by definition by Harvey who has a Ph.D. in radiology and
Strahilevitz (2009) concedes,
Unlike contributions that fall under corporate philanthropy, cause-related marketing
involves businesses linking donations to sales, with the clearly stated goal of mutual

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benefit. When a business participates in a cause-related marketing campaign, it links the

sales of its products or services with financial support for a cause or charity. The business
actively promotes the linkage between sales and donations to its target customers
(Harvey and Strahilevitz).
Another way of looking at cause related marketing if it still isnt clear, is when Broderick, Jogi
and Garry (2003) mention, Cause Related Marketing has become more widespread over the past
few years and it is arguably becoming a strategic element within the marketing of business
organizations (Broderick, Jogi and Garry). Companies are becoming more aware that they can
influence customers by using anything to the companies benefit. It isnt just the pink ribbon that
is being misused, but is particularly taken advantage of the most.
Any company can put a pink ribbon on its products. Some products have a pink ribbon in
order to indicate that the company supports breast cancer programs even if the companys
contributions are not tied to the purchases of the specific product bearing the ribbon. Many
companies use the pink ribbon to their profit and not donate legitimate funds to breast cancer
organizations, and if they do, most of the time it is to awareness foundations instead of actual
research organizations. If we do not try to solve this problem now it is going to become a bigger
issue later on. Subsequent research should seek to establish the extent of cause related
marketing programs in a cross section of all small businesses supporting the full range of
nonprofit organizations (File and Prince, 1998, p. 1537). To make this situation ease, File and
Prince are suggesting that extra research should be done to see the extent that some businesses
will go to for that extra cash. Sometimes they will donate to nonprofit organizations, and that
shouldnt be overlooked; that is why we need to do more research so we can expose those
companies that will exploit the pink ribbon.

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References
Before You Buy Pink. (2002). Retrieved from http://thinkbeforeyoupink.org/before-you-buy/
Broderick, A., Jogi, A., & Garry, T. (2003) Tickled pink: the personal meaning of cause related
marketing for customers. Journal of marketing Management, 19(5-6), 583-610.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1362/026725703322189968
File, K. M., & Prince, R. A. (1998). Cause related marketing and corporate philanthropy

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in the privately held enterprise. Journal of Business Ethics, 17(14), 1529-1539.

Harvey, J. A., & Strahilevitz, M. A. (2009) The power of pink: cause-related marketing and the
impact on breast cancer. Journal of the American College of Radiology, 6(1), 26-32.
http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/science/article/pii/S1546144008003748,
DOI: 10.1016/j.jacr.2008.07.010
Mccarthy, A. (2013). Pinkwashing: The Truth Behind Breast Cancer Awareness Products.
Retrieved from http://www.bustle.com/articles/7169-pinkwashing-the-truth-behindbreast-cancerawareness-products
Michele, E. (2012, February 4). I Will Not Be Pinkwashed: Komen's Race Is For Money, Not
Cure, Retrieved from
http://www.alternet.org/story/154010/i_will_not_be_pinkwashed:_komen's_race_is_for_
money,not_cure
Ody, D. (2008). Think Pink? Or Think Profit? Retrieved from
http://www.mhlearningsolutions.com/commonplace/index.php?q=node/3769
Selleck, L. G. (2010). Pretty in pink: The Susan G. Komen network and the branding of the
breast cancer cause. Nordic Journal of English Studies, 9(3), 119-138.
Sinha, S. (2014, October 8). The NFL's Pink October Does Not Raise Money for Cancer
Research | VICE Sports. from https://sports.vice.com/article/the-nfls-pink-october-doesnot-raise-money-for-cancer-research