A Better Way Forward
My was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago, and is thankfully healthy now, but my aversion to the color pink and all things cancer still exists and is probably getting stronger. But I can’t speak for everyone who’s had a family member with the disease. I know that buying things with a pink ribbon on them or participating in a 5k helps a lot of people deal with having the disease or loving someone who has it.
When I set out on this project, I figured the inevitable conclusion would be that pinkwashing needs to be eliminated altogether. Looking at all of the problems that currently exist with pinkwashing, it’s tempting to think that for-profit firms and non-profit organizations shouldn’t be doing business together, and we need to burn the whole thing to the ground. But I don’t want to be that pessimistic. The problems that exist with pinkwashing are big, but they’re also solvable. Getting rid of pinkwashing altogether isn’t the answer. Many people, businesses and consumers alike, genuinely want to do good, and non-profits rely on private sector donations in order to remain functional. Pinkwashing is a multifaceted problem that will require changing all aspects of how for-profit companies and breast cancer charities do business together. Harsher scrutiny by consumers, as well as more government oversight, can eliminate the problems that pinkwashing is currently facing, and make it a more rewarding system for everyone involved.
How We Get There
The pink ribbon can’t be trademarked, and it shouldn’t be. If only certain companies have access to or can afford to use the pink ribbon, pinkwashing will likely remain in the hands of industry giants like Estée Lauder. Anyone who wants to help raise money for breast cancer research should be able to. But what does need to be regulated is exactly how much money is being donated and what is going to be done with it. What percentage of sales will actually be donated? Is there a cap on the donation amount? Where is it being donated to, and what will be done with it? How much of the money will actually be going to research, and how much will be going to the pay the salaries of executives at places like Komen? The answers to all of these questions need to be available to consumers, and available easily. If a company like the NFL is only going to donate $11.25 from the sale of a $100 jersey, customers need to be aware of that.
Going further, the use of ingredients in products that are a part of pinkwashing campaigns needs to be cracked down on. In an ideal world, companies shouldn’t be allowed to advertise the sale of products as benefiting cancer research when those very products contain ingredients that have been linked to breast cancer diagnoses. At the very least, it’s wholly transparent. How are customers supposed to believed these brands genuinely care about fighting breast cancer, when the ingredients in their products seem to say the opposite. The argument can (and probably will) be made that that would be government overreach, and the term "nanny state" would probably be thrown around. In that case, companies should be required to make information about the ingredients they’re using more easily accessible. If it’s been linked to cancer, customers need to know. Especially if it’s being sold in the name of cancer prevention.
Lastly, there needs to be a crackdown on what kind of messages pinkwashing campaigns are sending to women about fighting breast cancer. Mammograms are useful tools that have saved the lives of countless women. But mammograms aren’t the end all, be all, blanket solution to breast cancer that they are made out to be. That’s not to say women shouldn’t get mammograms. But when companies take part in pinkwashing campaigns that promote a “remember to schedule your mammogram” message, they need to be realistic about what getting a mammogram will and will not do for them. And these campaigns need to go beyond just reminding women to schedule their mammograms, by making mammograms accessible to more women. It’s hard to get a mammogram if you live in a low income neighborhood where mammograms aren’t available.
We don’t need to get rid of pinkwashing altogether, but we do need to some serious self-reflection as to what our current system of pinkwashing has divulged into. Consumers need to be informed about both what is in the products they’re buying, and how much of money from their purchase is actually going to the cause it’s supporting. Businesses, on the other hand, need to make this information readily available, and consider whether or not they actually have interest in helping the causes they claim to support. It’s going to take time, and people actively campaigning for change, but I can be done.