'Pinkwashing': How corporations jump on the breast-cancer ...

Ford Mustang, a breast cancer fundraising partner

Every 23 seconds, a woman somewhere around the world is diagnosed with breast cancer. Every 69 seconds, someone dies from the disease.

In the US, one in every eight women will develop breast cancer at some point in their lives. And each year, 59,000 US women die as a result.

But a new documentary, Pink Ribbons Inc, reveals how these sobering statistics are a world away from the public image of the disease, which has become ?comforting, reassuring ? everything a breast cancer diagnosis is not?, says activist Barbara Brenner. Corporations and charities are accused of ?normalising?, or ?softening? the disease. ?But it?s not normal, it?s horrible.?

The documentary, screened as part of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, also shows how research into breast cancer is ?blighted by needless repetition and massive gaps?. The bulk of funding goes towards research into a cure, while only 15% goes towards investigating the cause of the disease, and how to prevent it. And this may be a direct result of ?misinformation and the perky image of the disease? promulgated by big corporations, including the likes of Susan G Komen, Avon, Est?e Lauder?and Revlon.

Adorned with pink hats and pompoms, ?survivors? of the disease rejoice with their ?sisters? in fundraising activities organised by companies around the world. But for some women, pink ribbons and parades don?t change anything. Filmmaker L?a Pool?travelled to Austin, Texas, to visit a support group for women with Stage IV breast cancer.

The bulk of funding goes towards research into a cure, while only 15% goes towards investigating the cause of the disease, and how to prevent it

At Stage IV, the cancer has spread so violently that there is simply no cure. ?There?s no Stage V?, one of the members explains. ?You?re learning to die.? Yet through the breast cancer ?culture? and focus on staying strong and fighting the disease, these women are made to feel like failures. The message, ?if you try really hard, you can beat it,? is encouraged, says the Stage IV support group. ?But people die ? they lost their battle. They just didn?t try hard enough.? Meanwhile, corporate fundraisers push this side of the disease under the rug, and there is no legislation to stop them.

Cash cow
Breast cancer is ?the poster child of cause marketing?, says Queen?s University professor Samantha King, on whose book the documentary is based. Around the US, millions of women walk, run, cycle, showjump, even skydive to raise money to ?fight? the disease. But where is their money really going? Big corporations say they are championing the campaign to find a cure. But the documentary poses a poignant question: are they actually making things worse?

Filmmaker L?a Pool?explores the issue in depth. She found that breast cancer has essentially become a cash cow for corporations using ?pink ribbon? branding to sell goods, and the US is the centre for ?pinkwashing? on a staggering scale. The ribbon appears on hundreds of products ? from food and cosmetics, to gasoline, cars, even airplanes.

?I was facing my own mortality,? writer and cancer sufferer Barbara Ehrenreich tells Pool, ?and someone?s offering me a pink teddy bear.?

Many of the goods are produced in partnership with cancer charities. But do the charities really have women?s best interests at heart? One group spotlighted in the film is ?Susan G Komen ? for the cure?, created by ?ambassador? Nancy Brinker in aid of her sister, Susan Komen, who died of the disease. Komen promises, through funding, ?to end breast cancer forever?, and the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is the world?s largest fundraising event for the cause.

?When I was diagnosed, all I wanted to do was get into a Ford Mustang Convertible and go!??
Ford advert

But Komen?s corporate partnerships have generated huge controversy, such as its ?Warriors in pink? collaboration with Ford motors. In one, unashamedly transparent advert, a woman sits in her new Ford Mustang. ?When I was diagnosed, all I wanted to do was get into a Ford Mustang Convertible and go!? she exclaims, with a smile.

In 2010, fast-food company Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) launched its ?Buckets for the Cure? campaign. For every pink bucket of fried chicken that KFC sold, they promised to give 50 cents to Komen. But given that obesity has been linked to breast cancer, the campaign didn?t go down too well.

Komen has also partnered with M&Ms (high in sugar and fat) and produced a pretty pink handgun with Smith and Wesson. Beginning in 2005, Yoplait yoghurt donated ten cents to Komen for each lid mailed in by consumers. But what many consumers did not know, revealed Pool, was that Yoplait?s owner General Mills was using a carcinogenic ? rBGH ? in its yoghurt. It was only when Breast Cancer Action, a group formed to act against cause marketing, created its own campaign against General Mills that the company removed the harmful element.

KFC launched its ?Buckets for the Cure? campaign ? but given that obesity has been linked to breast cancer, the campaign didn?t go down too well

Global cosmetics company Est?e Lauder?has also jumped on the bandwagon, despite the documentary?s claim that its make-up contains harmful, possibly carcinogenic, chemicals. Yet, with British model Liz Hurley as spokesperson, the company conducted a huge fundraising campaign to light up famous landmarks in pink, including the Empire State building and Niagara Falls.

In a vast ceremony, ?Est?e?Lauder and its supporters descended outside Parliament in Ottawa, Canada. As pink lights shone on the facade, a cherub-like choir of children, sang ?You raise me up?, the deep bells of the clock tower echoing the tune. But this isn?t Disney ? it?s breast cancer. ?What does lighting up Niagara falls for 24 hours in pink really do?? a cancer sufferer asks Pool.

Hypocrisy
Pool?s documentary is an excellent and highly informative film which asks important questions and induces the viewer to reconsider blindly handing over money to companies that may be less than transparent. The hypocrisy of companies such as Est?e Lauder, Avon and Revlon, is clear ? using ?pinkwashing? to improve their public image while manufacturing products that may be carcinogenic.

But the one failing of the documentary is that the corporations are never really held to account. As such, it is more of an observational, rather than investigative documentary, with heavy reliance on professor King?s book. In a discussion following the film, at London?s Curzon Soho, King explained, ?we have to change the conversation around the disease, and what our priorities are.? But when it comes to changing the actions of big business, ?they don?t want to listen,? she says. ?It?s really hard to hold them to accountability?.

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