Joey's Blog

Breast cancer awareness has spurred significantly in the past couple of years. Businesses find ways to attract customers by acting socially responsible, promoting breast cancer and selling breast cancer related products. From the National Breast Cancer Awareness month to the countless fundraising events, there is never a shortage of pink ribbons products.

Has breast cancer become a big profit-generation tool? The branding of breast cancer awareness has become a multi-billion dollar a year industry. For example, Kentucky fried chicken’s “Bucket for the Cure” campaign donates 50 cents for each bucket of chicken purchased to the breast cancer advocacy group Susan G. Komen (Hutchison). Associating unhealthy fast food to the promotion of breast cancer is pushing it. This also speaks to business ethics. Businesses influence the movement as they try to become socially responsible. Many patients have been offended by the pink ribbon branding, which puts the effort in making the disease “pink, pretty, feminine and normal.” Many people wish to see the breast cancer movement return to purer roots. This questions whether a profitable business can be fully commit to a social movement without associating capitalism.

Sources
Pink Ribbon: Documentary 

Pinkification: how breast cancer awareness got commodified for profit