Since October is Breast Cancer
Awareness Month, I figured I would talk about some of the more
current media coverage surrounding breast cancer and what it means
for women. Primarily, I wanted to focus on the color pink and how it
is socially constructed to mean words such as “hope, strength, and
courage.”
My Grandma passed from breast cancer in
2005, but I remember her bringing home a pin-able pink ribbon from
the hospital when she was undergoing chemotherapy. Even though it was
only eight years ago, I don't recall the pink ribbons as being a such
prevalent indicator of breast cancer. I remember seeing them only on
the corner of cereal boxes, bottled water, etc. Now they're
everywhere; I bet if I walked through a grocery store, I would find
hundreds of products sporting the little pink ribbon. Not only would
products have a pink ribbon to signal their participation in raising
money to find a cure, I would see entire products wrapped in bright
pink packaging. Companies have gone overboard with the pink color to
now signal a “LOOK AT ME” mentality, which I think has taken some
of the honorific discourse out of the original ribbon.
There was a film released earlier in
2012 called Pink Ribbons,
Inc., which highlighted some of the corporatism of using
the pink ribbons to “raise money, regardless of the consequences.”
I personally have not seen this film, but I would would like to...
maybe I will try to rent it over the weekend. Just watching the
trailer sparks my interest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QPZfcYTUaA
Instead of using pink as a symbol for
awareness of breast cancer, companies are using the color to gain
media attention and thus increase revenue. Currently, the NFL has
adopted pink as an accent color during various “breast cancer
awareness” games in the month of October. I do not follow sports at
all, but I caught a couple minutes of the Packer game last
Sunday and it didn't take me long to notice the bright pink towels,
shoes, etc.
“Games throughout October to
feature pink cleats, gloves, chin straps, footballs with pink
ribbon decals,” stated NFL's website. Read the full article here:
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d822a6217/article/nfl-supports-breast-cancer-awareness-month
I think researching this stuff is
really interesting and is definitely a paradigm change for me. So what do
you think about this issue? Is it an issue?
Leave me a comment below, I'm curious
to see what other people think.
This is really interesting! It is sad it might not be so much about cancer and more about selling a product. Looking into things more in depth is hard but good to understand a cause more. Its difficult to think a company might be caring about a cause only to realize it is very beneficial to them financially to have a concern. I think that is the issue, organizations only getting involved when there is a profit for themselves.
ReplyDeleteI hear what you two are saying. I never looked at the NFL as just selling or making money off of the PINK products. I just thought they do it because they all believe it’s helping the concern. I do fantasy leagues and I have noticed that other teams do and don't wear as much pink as others. Does this mean they don't care or support breast cancer? Or they’re not getting paid enough to support? I am sure with it being one of the leading causes of death for women; I am sure a player is affected or knows someone who has been affected.
ReplyDelete