When the mornings turn cool, I always know that October is right around the corner. And that means lots of sickening pink crap in the grocery and department stores.
I saw it already: Pantene put a pink ribbon on their shampoo. A quick glance and you might think that you are doing some “good” by buying this bottle. Maybe they’re giving a portion of each purchase to research. But if you look closely you’ll see that the pink ribbon has nothing to do with breast cancer or giving money to research or giving money to anything to help anyone anywhere. They are simply letting us know that over 500,000 ponytails have been donated by people like you to Beautiful Lengths: a hair donation program which Pantene owns. That’s it. That big pink ribbon doesn’t mean anything more! OK, hair for wigs is great, don’t get me wrong, but it’s the deceptive branding that ticks me off.
To make matters worse, if you flip the bottle over you’ll see their ingredients include fragrance and methylisothiazolinone…. which are both cancer promoters!
Please don’t be fooled by the pink products! Most companies are legally able to put pink ribbons on their cancer promoting products because they are “promoting awareness” just by showing a pink ribbon. None of the money from your purchase goes to help anyone. It’s a scam on your emotions, plain and simple, and it is disgusting. You can read more from my post last year to see the pink cigarette ad and the totally awesome pink Darth Vader bust statue! (WTF?).
Yes, October is breast cancer awareness month, but September isn’t over yet. September is:
- Childhood Cancer Awareness month: US government research funds have been drastically cut for childhood cancer recently.
- Ovarian Cancer Awareness month there is an estimated 188,000 women living with ovarian cancer in the US alone.
- Gynecologic cancer awareness month
- Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Awareness month
- Leukemia Awareness Month Incidence increases with chemotherapy exposure. Currently only 57% of those diagnosed survive 5 years
- Lymphoma Awareness month (love you Dad)
- Thyroid cancer awareness month: One of the few cancers that is actually showing an increase in incidence. The thyroid is greatly affected by environmental toxins like triclosan which you are probably using in your home right now.
- Prostate cancer awareness month
You can see all months here.
Yes, October is breast cancer awareness month and everyone should be aware to make sure you know the risks and proper screenings. But you’d have to living under a rock not to be aware of the breast cancer pink ribbon. Ironically, October is also Liver Cancer awareness month.
Women don’t die of breast cancer.
They die of metastasis, or the cancer spreading to other parts of their body. Like the liver. Unfortunately, only $2 of every $100 that goes to breast cancer research goes to fight stage IV, or metastatic breast cancer. You can see more here.
Use your dollars to buy more fruits and veggies, buy a new pair of walking shoes, or go to a yoga class. Those dollars will do more for your personal breast cancer prevention than buying a ribbon-clad bottle of shampoo ever will.
More on how you can really help those with breast cancer in next months post. Until then, shun the pink.
Categories: breast cancer, breast cancer awareness, cancer, health, women's health
The Savvy Sister 
Love your no-nonsense approach to the yearly epidemic of pink crap i the US. I very much remember last year’s post – funny and frustrating in equal measures. But you aren’t just funny and indignant, you remind us of where the money should actually go. I second Nancy – right on. 🙂
Thanks Kellie! Sometimes I just can’t let things go.
Certainly not when it is every flipping year the same old rubbish and no change whatsoever. *bangs head on wall*
Susan, you got your fighting spirit back…nice to see:)
Right on , Sister!
🙂