Most of us acknowledged the fact that having a successful campaign is one of the ways to raise awareness about a certain issue among the society. Pink Ribbon is one of the great examples of a good campaign as it has been a well-known sign of breast cancer awareness. There is no doubt that this campaign has successfully create great awareness on breast cancer issue. However, there are corporations that benefit from this movement. The documentary “Pink Ribbons, Inc.” highlights the real concerns behind this idea of feminization of a deadly disease. People were encouraged with the myth of progress which eventually distracts from the main issue like increasing mortality rates caused by breast cancer. This film also revealed the hypocrisies of some pharmaceutical, chemical and consumer-goods companies that manufacture products containing carcinogen substances while at the same time marketing treatments and charity goods for breast cancer in the name of Pink Ribbon. The producer of this documentary, Ravida Din, claimed that most of the money raised under this campaign focuses more on awareness and lifestyle changes instead of primary prevention. This documentary does not necessarily oppose the fundraising movement to help the victims seek medical treatments and to help end the stigma against the disease, however, they criticized the idea of focusing mainly on treatments and cures instead of causes and prevention. They also highlighted on how corporate sponsorship of this mainstream breast cancer culture is more likely to gain profit and benefitting themselves rather than result in a cure. I believe that more concerns should be given on breast cancer research and medical studies while still promoting the awareness.

            Meanwhile, some organizations take the initiative to show protest towards the idea of “pinkwashing” by associating themselves with alternative color like green. According to the Ley’s article, one of the examples of the organizations is Zero Breast Cancer that focuses more on environmental issues that lead to breast cancer. (Ley, 2009) Eco-feminist claimed that breast cancer needs to be viewed from an environmental perspective by paying more attention on what are we drinking and putting in our bodies. They have the biggest concern on the amount of toxins in certain products that exist in food and consumer goods which contribute to breast cancer. Nevertheless, Ley (2009) mentioned in her book how the breast cancer movement like Race for the Cure gave her mixed feeling. She felt that maybe that kind of activities might not empower affected women to track down their local water polluters, but it might motivate them to get through another round of chemotherapy.

            The real question in this issue is where exactly do all these millions charitable donations go? It would be harder to track since there are too many companies and organizations involved. On top of that, “pinkwashing” cultures have become so commonplace which slowly makes people almost accepting this major killer of women as a rite of passage instead of a threatening disease. Pink ribbon has somehow created an image of feminine, optimism and positivity that might distract people from the real issue which is the prevention and the causes of the disease.

References

Ley, B. (2009). Chapter 5:  The Cultural Politics of Sisterhood. In From Pink to Green.