October may be National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but that doesn't mean every item with a pink ribbon is true to the cause.
"Around October, which goes kind of aflame with pink, we would notice that there were a lot of corporations that would be selling products with a pink ribbon slapped on them," said Angela Wall, communications manager of Breast Cancer Action, a group dedicated to ending breast cancer. "Because there's no trademark on the pink ribbon, anyone can use the pink ribbon for anything."
Breast Cancer Action created a project known as "Think before you pink."
"Think before you pink" is dedicated to ensuring companies hold true to their word about funding research and helping the cause.
"Quite often, the very product being sold to raise awareness contained ingredients that themselves contributed to an increase in the disease," Wall said.
The problem is neither the plethora of pink ribbons, nor further awareness brought to the disease.
BCA does not approve of companies "pink-washing" their products when many of them contain ingredients or packaging materials known to cause breast cancer.
"So we coined the term 'pink-washer' to refer to corporations that try to have it both ways, which we believe you can't do," Wall said. "You can't say you want to end the epidemic on one hand, and then create a product that contributes to more women getting the disease on the other."
Yoplait yogurt, which usually sports a pink lid during this season, partnered with Komen for the Cure to help donate money to finding a cure for breast cancer.
Before pressure from BCA last year, Yoplait yogurt, a product of General Mills, contained rBGH, or bovine growth hormone, which is linked to causing breast cancer.
"It upsets me to know that people are being taken advantage of when they think they are doing good by donating money to the cause," said Anne Gagnon, senior in industrial design, "but in some cases, they may not really know where their money is going."
Wall said, as of August 2009, Yoplait yogurt went onto shelves as rBGH-free dairy.
Not long after, Dannon yogurt followed suit.
"We put a campaign together where we contacted both General Mills and Komen and said, 'This needs to stop because this is pink-washing,'" Wall said. "Several weeks later, we got a call from General Mills saying they were stopping using rBGH in their dairy to manufacture Yoplait yogurt."
Now, around two-thirds of dairy in the United States is rBGH-free.
Pink-washing does not mean one should stop buying all breast cancer awareness products all together.
However, consumers are advised to research whether the products they buy in pink, truly are pink, and not just a marketing ploy.
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