10.25.06
Pink Ribbons, Inc.
I made my donation to the Komen Foundation earlier this year, so in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I decided to do something a little bid different. Last year I did the Breast Cancer 3-Day, which was an amazing experience, but once was enough. I felt like I had done a really amazing thing, but I didn’t think my body could take another one again. The Breast Cancer 3-Day got me thinking about corporate sponsorship and philanthropy in the United States. I’ve always been somewhat irritated by all of the coporate “stuff” that often accompanies philanthropy. The Breast Cancer 3-Day was rife with advertisements by Pria (Powerbar) and one of the sports drink companies.
This year, my contribution to Awareness Month is reading a book. I was reading a recent issue of The Nation, and found an ad for a book called Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy
I’m about 1/2 way through the book. It’s really interesting. Ms. King has brought up some good points so far. She talks about how the current model of breast cancer philanthropy pretty much only targets the white middle class women who have or have had the disease. Programs that benefit the poor or “underserved populations” (the most used PC term I use at work these days) don’t figure prominently in the “breast cancer agenda”. Ms. King also writes about large companies who use breast cancer to market products.
I’ll be really interested to see how her arguments shape up. I’m fascinated by some of the organizations out there that reject the current philanthropy/marketing model, and are working to make the distinction between a company doing good deeds and a company using the idea of a good deed to sell their product. I’ll be sure to report back on my findings.
Julia Schopick said,
October 28, 2006 at 6:43 pm
I can’t wait to read Samantha King’s book. (I have been reading so much about it during October, Breast Cancer Month.)
There are many other excellent articles out there that give a similar, also interesting perspective on the topic of the “pinking” of breast cancer awareness. I link to three of them from my website, http://www.honestmedicine.typepad.com.
To access these three articles, please go to the links on the left side of my site, and look under “CANCER.” (There are also other interesting links under “PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES.”)
The three articles are:
1)”Welcome to Cancerland: A Mammogram Leads to a Cult of Pink Kitsch,” by Barbara Ehrenreich. A classic.
2)”Chemo Concession” (contains some surprising information about the chemotherapy industry)
3) “Vaccine Against Cancer,†about a really interesting cancer treatment being used by a doctor in Germany.
All three articles (and many of the others I link to, as well) support Samantha King’s perspective on the “think pink†phenomenon. I hope you will find them informative. Thanks very much for giving them a look!
In closing, when WILL these “pinking” organizations ever raise money to find, as Ms. King suggests, less toxic treatments?
Sincerely,
Julia Schopick
http://www.honestmedicine.typepad.com