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Not So Pretty in Pink

July 14, 2011 by Lisa Biank Fasig — Director, JZMcBride and Associates

Well, it looks like cancer has been one-upped in the insidious department.

Turns out that many companies that promote a cure for breast cancer are at the same time contributing to rising rates of the disease through the products they make. It is called pinkwashing and, like companies that make unsubstantiated claims to being green, it is a flagrant abuse of a good cause for the sake of profit.

According to a recent report in the journal Environmental Justice, several corporations have tried to benefit from the breast cancer cause by using their brands to raise awareness of the disease. Yet at the same time these companies produce products made with chemicals linked to cancer.

Among the report’s argument, pinkwashing shifts the focus from the causes of cancer to “the cure.”

“The corporate practice of pinkwashing has interfered with the public recognition of environmental causes of breast cancer and creates significant barriers to better health outcomes for women in the United States,’’ states the report, written by Amy Lubitow and Mia Davis. Lubitow is an assistant professor of sociology at Portland State University, in Oregon. Davis is organiing director of Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, in Boston.

And, with women controlling 70 cents to 85 cents of every household dollar that is spent, they say, breast cancer is a topic of mass consumer appeal and therefore a logical marketing tool.

Among the companies cited in the report are Avon and its “Kiss Goodbye to Breast Cancer” campaign. The program, launched in 2001, raises money for a cure through the sale of lipsticks. The problem, according to the report, is that more than 250 Avon products include ingredients that, while legal, are linked to breast cancer. This could be an awful mistake – maybe marketing didn’t know what the guys in R&D were doing. But it could turn out to a pretty expensive oversight, not to mention a PR nightmare now that the Lubitow and Davis report is picking up a lot of momentum in the press.

Avon has responded to the claims, and said the report’s statements are inaccurate.

“Avon has been in business for 125 years, and the foundation of our success is our safe and effective products. In fact, we have an unparalleled track record for product safety,” Tod Arbogast, vice president of Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility at Avon, said in the statement. “We are well aware of the rumors circulating that certain cosmetic ingredients cause cancer. In this day and age of the Internet, misinformation can spread rapidly and that’s why we feel compelled to respond when these types of claims surface.”

What the report doesn’t reference are “cure” products that are just plain stupid. But regardless, if pink campaigns have you seeing red, I suggest you consider these questions before you give, courtesy of the blog Think Before You Pink.

About Lisa Biank Fasig

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