BlogHer - cause marketing - Comments

Pink/Red

JinianVictoria — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:55:54 -0500

You are absolutely right. I have been so inundated with buy this or join this for breasat cancer awareness I am getting fed up. I do have to screen these promotions carefully. Every store or business purporting to specialize in womens clothes, etc is trying to get our money or membership. Its bordering on overkill. I am a definite supporter of breast cancer awareness but give me a break!! Even too much of good thing can kill you or your purse JinianVictoria

You're So Right

Megan Smith — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:00:03 -0500

The push to "buy pink" and in a related campaign for heart health, "buy red" has become a joke. It's hard enough to make sure when you give directly to a charity, that your money is being used properly, but when you buy a product and the manufacturer says a whole 5 cents for the product is going to breast cancer research, you have to know you're being had.

Megan

Megan Smith

BlogHer CE, TV/Online Video

My Personal Blog:
Megan's Minute

Exactly how I have been feeling!

jennabee25 — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:00:15 -0500

Thank you for hitting the nail on the head in this post. It seems like everything has a pink ribbon slapped on it and sold. Batteries? Calculators? Hairbrushes? It's nauseating.

Breasts of Canada

Denise — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 18:19:19 -0500

Sue is a longtime friend of BlogHer and going through a rough time at the moment. She would be thrilled if you joined the cause. Here is her link: http://www.breastofcanada.ca/

I own her 07 calendar and am so sorry she isn't able to post one for 08 but am hopeful that an 09 calendar will be available. So hopeful.

~Denise
Fast Times @ Homeschool High & Flamingo House Happenings

Breast link

alyssaroyse — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:16:38 -0500

does anyone have a link to the Breast Health Awareness Campaign that Purple Woman mentioned? I'd be happy to blog about it, post a link etc....
___________
Alyssa Royse
JUST CAUSE
make some good news!
www.JustCauseIt.com

What Ever Happened to An Ounce of Prevention...?

Purple Woman — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 19:30:48 -0500

Thank you for this post. I've been thinking the same sentiment for some time now. Exploitation is the right label. I am sure some good must come from all the charity-based marketing.

In the Pink hysteria, we forget that we can prevent cancer from ever occurring. Yes, I really do believe that. So does Sue Richards, the social entrepreneur who created the Breast Health Awareness Campaign (no color-ribbon associated with it, no corporate deals). This Canuck lass created the Breast of Canada calendar to help her get the word out. She is the first person I met at BlogHer '06.

She needs our help as Ambassadors to her message.

Teri Tith
Creator & Contributing Editor
Purple Women & Friends

Iodine and Breast Cancer Prevention by Jeffrey Dach MD

jeffreydach — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:58:05 -0500

October should also be called Iodine Supplement Awareness Month, since Iodine is the key to breast cancer prevention.

Fibrocystic Breast Disease, the Iodine Deficiency Connection

A good friend of ours just went through an ordeal with breast cancer. The incidence of breast cancer has increased to 1 in 8 women, with 4,000 new cases weekly.

You might ask, could there be a preventive measure which is safe, cheap and widely available that has been overlooked?

The answer is YES , and it’s the essential mineral, Iodine, which was added to table salt in 1924 as part of a national program to prevent Goiter. It turns out that this same Iodine in table salt is the key to breast cancer prevention as proposed by the following list of prestigious doctors:

Guy Abraham, MD, Robert Derry MD PHD, David Brownstein MD, George Flechas MD, Donald Miller, M.D.

Dr. B.A. Eskin published 80 papers over 30 years researching iodine and breast cancer, and he reports that iodine deficiency causes breast cancer and thyroid cancer in humans and animals. Iodine deficiency is also known to cause a pre-cancerous condition called fibrocystic breast disease.

W.R. Ghent published a paper in 1993 which showed iodine supplementation works quite well to reverse and resolve fibrocystic changes of the breast, and this is again the subject of a current clinical study.(Can J Surg. 1993 Oct;36(5):453-60.)

Despite its obvious potential, not much has been done with Iodine treatment over the past 40 years in the United States. Since iodine isn't patentable and is therefore unlikely to be profitable to market, there is no money to fund studies for “FDA approval". However, FDA approval is not required since Iodine is already an additive to table salt at the supermarket.

For more information see my newsletter

http://jeffreydach.com/2007/05/05/jeffreydachdrdachiodine.aspx

Jeffrey Dach MD
4700 Sheridan Suite T
Hollywood Fl 33021
954 983 1443
www.drdach.com
www.jeffreydach.com

wishful thinking at best

Suzanne Reisman — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:26:31 -0500

I'm not aware of any scientific evidence that backs your claim that long term breast feeding is the only way to prevent breast cancer. Plenty of women who never give birth also do not get cancer. Further, most women who breast feed live in the same polluted and toxic environment that we all live in. Given the strong link between various environmental toxins from pollution, pesticides, and other waste from industrialized living, I tend to doubt that breastfeeding or lack thereof is what is affecting breast cancer rates. Women who tend to breastfeed longer (up to three years, as you suggest) also tend to live in non-industrial societies. They also tend to live shorter lives in general than women who live in industrial nations. It seems that there are many factors that influence their lower rates of breast cancer, not just breast feeding.

Suzanne Reisman, Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants

BE Careful with your assertions, and your breasts

alyssaroyse — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:53:17 -0500

Your assertion that breast-feeding is the ONLY way to prevent breast cancer is both untrue and unfair. There are, in fact, many things we can do to LESSEN (but not entirely prevent) cancers of all sorts. That includes a healthy diet free of pesticides and highly processed foods, (of which more are consumed in the US than almost anywhere in the world.) Staying fit and keeping weight low, as there is a causal relationship between obesity and many cancers, not to mention a general stress on the immune system. (Again, more obesity here than just about anywhere else in the world.) Getting enough Vitamin D and omega 3 fatty acids, both of which can be tough, so it takes effort. In the case of breast cancer, there is a mounting pile of research suggesting that soy, due to heavy estrogens, may feed the growth of breast tumors. (More soy here also, as it is in our highly processed foods, and increasingly used as a substitute for all sorts of foods, as well as for a cheap filler and protein source. We consume it in countless ways, far more than in the diet of any other country, and in a highly processed form.)

To suggest that women are giving themselves breast cancer by not breast feeding long enough is really unfair and punitive. Is it something that we should look at? Absolutely. Are there lots of good reasons for women to breast-feed? Absolutely. But be very careful when you suggest that is the only thing we can do, and inadvertently blame women for giving themselves cancer.

Not everyone can breast feed. I, for one, found myself with an exploding appendix when my daughter as 6-weeks old and nearly died in front of my husband and crying daughter. Needless to say, my body shut off the milk supply in order to save my life. I tried, and could NOT get the milk to come back. I made the mistake of calling the La Leche League seeking advise and was told, i kid you not, "they have pills that will make men lactate. you could do it if you really cared." She then told me that my daughter would hate and resent me, that children who are not breast fed never learn to bond with people, and that she would be at risk of countless diseases if i didn't make the milk come back.

This kind of zealotry (that perhaps I am mistakenly hearing in your post) is really unfair and abusive to women who are doing the best they can in the lives that they have chosen to live.
What of the hourly worker who has to go to a service industry job for 8 hours a day? Or the woman with the health condition that precludes breast-feeding?

You cannot prevent breast cancer simply by breast feeding. You need to make comprehensive lifestyle choices, and even then, there's no guarantee. If you have such a guarantee, that also precludes everything else, I'd be thrilled to see it.

___________
Alyssa Royse
JUST CAUSE
make some good news!
www.JustCauseIt.com

Preventing Breast Cancer

Sheanie — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 19:21:07 -0500

There is only one thing a woman can do to prevent breast cancer. That is to breastfeed her babies for as long as possible. I am not talking about "the 6 weeks" but years. As in 2 years, 3 years per child. The United States is one of the few countries in the world where nursing beyond 6 months is uncommon. The Pink Ribbon Campaign ignores the preventative value of breastfeeding.

Excellent!

Mama Zen — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 14:04:22 -0500

If a company donates a percentage of profits to research, etc., fine. And, if I choose the pink can of soup over the "regular" because the company is making a donation, that's fine, too. But, I totally agree that companies are misleading consumers as to how MUCH is being donated.

www.thezenofmotherhood.blogspot.com

So Glad I found this Post!

SingForHim — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 07:07:19 -0500

Yesterday, I saw a $15 travel coffee mug, and I thought I might buy it if, say, 50% of the price went to Breast Cancer. I was appalled that they inflated the price so much, only to give 5% to the cause. I decided to give my $15 directly to the cause and get a $5 regular coffee mug instead. I was wondering if I was the only one disenchanted with the pink ribbon machine, and found your post through Google. Thanks!

Sarah @ Real Life

Right on Suzanne

suebob — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 09:51:36 -0500

I posted about this last year - about Yoplait lids - rinse off, save and mail lids, all for a couple cents. It would take me months to even earn $5 for breast cancer.

Personally, I think most fund-raising is stupid. Just make a plan at the end of the year for the next year, write the checks on a regular schedule, and be done with it. Then when I am asked to donate to other causes, I can truthfully explain that my giving is planned and that I am supporting the causes I can to the maximum that I am capable. Those causes don't have to give me a gala, a dinner, or a t-shirt. It saves them money and time.

I am lucky enough to have a workplace that matches my giving commitment at 50 percent. If I donate $100, they turn it into $150. This is one of my favorite perks.

It goes beyond that, though

Suzanne Reisman — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 00:30:39 -0500

Yoplait was busted in Georgia several years ago for doing exactly that - promising to make donation, and not following through on it. Further, the fact that most of these companies puts a cap on their donations is problematic for me. If you sell significantly more product because people think they are helping a good cause, and the company maxes out on its cap, then every single purchase above that cap leads to profit with zero donation attached to it. It's hard to tell what is going on because companies only report what they gave, not how much they sold.

Causes do need money. No one is disagreeing about that. (Although exactly what cause we are contributing to at this point is very muddled - I have a long comment at the bottom about the fractured giving and messaging that has resulted from so many organizations jumping on the bandwagon.) However, cause marketing has perverted much of the system. Please read Samantha King's book, "Pink Ribbons, Inc." Her research is eye-opening, and really changed how I thought about this topic.

Suzanne Reisman, Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants

Good intentions, yes

Suzanne Reisman — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 00:23:28 -0500

Hi Helene,

I've been thinking about your comment for quite a while. I understand that not all companies that go pink in October do so for cynical reasons, and I think what you are doing is wonderful. However, my beef with Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the pink ribbons also stems from the fact that so many companies and organizations have jumped on the bandwagon that the message is diluted. What is October about at this point? It seems to be split into three camps of fundraising:

1. To increase awareness of breast cancer. For the most part, this goal is accomplished. The only women who are unaware of breast cancer are marginalized women who are unlikely to be reached the various pink ribbon campaigns anyway. Does this mean we should give up and not try to reach them? Of course not! But it requires different tactics and different types of outreach to break through cultural barriers and stigmas to get the word out, and a month of pink ribbons is not ever going to achieve that.

2. To promote early detection. Yes, we know that early detection saves lives. But detection alone is not going to save women if they can't afford or access subsequent treatment. None of the main organizations that benefit from the October campaigns offer women health insurance or affordable medical care, so while it is important to get mammograms and find cancer early, there are millions of women who will die anyway because they can't do anything about it once they learn they have cancer. This is a broad policy problem that requires serious commitment to improving women's health, and the current pink ribbon campaigns are not addressing this.

3. To find a cure. Finding a cure is certainly a laudable goal, although Breast Cancer Action, a nonprofit advocacy agency run by and for women with breast cancer, points out that we've been looking for a cure for years and aren't even close. The emphasis on finding a cure takes away attention from finding out what causes breast cancer in the first place and then preventing it. Since many of the companies who support finding a cure happen to manufacture products that may cause cancer, this is not something that they are particularly interested in. Cleaning up our environment and helping people eat healthier diets and exercise more would also potentially help prevent cancer in the first place. Again, this is a complicated issue and it is much easier to gloss over the deep structural flaws that exist and try to cheer people up by promoting a cure that may never come.

Again, I am not glib or cynical about this. As it is also a disease that has impacted my life, I take breast cancer very seriously. I demand better solutions than what we are being offered, and reject the notion that we can shop our way out of this disease, although I appreciate the sincere efforts that people like you and Mata's friends make to help women. We need more earnest people and less quick fixes.

Suzanne Reisman, Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants