Happy October! Halloween is almost here and Breast Cancer Awareness Month is officially here, which means lots of pink everything until it turns black and orange for the final night in October.
It’s only the first weekend in October and I have already been bombarded with distinctly pink products only available through the month of October, with numerous companies promising a portion of their sales will go to (often unnamed) breast cancer charities or research foundations. To be honest all of the pink products available during the month of October always seemed like such a great idea to me. It wasn’t until I stumbled across Justice Hehir’s slam poem, “I’m Not Buying It” that I begun to see some flaws in this marketing strategy. In this poem, she says that breast cancer is “as lethal as it is profitable”, and oh, man, was she right.
In theory, it all sounds great. But in practice, it’s a marketing ploy designed to make companies appear charitable and allow customers to feel good about themselves and their purchases. Neither of these are inherently evil things, but it goes a step too far when customers are unsure of who they’re really giving to or how much they’re actually giving. Oftentimes a company will advertise a portion of a product’s sales will go to benefit breast cancer charities without specifying the charity or they will place a cap on their donation, meaning that some products may be sold without any proceeds going to the designated charity because the company has already donated as much as they are willing to. As a customer, you’re never made aware of the limits placed on these types of products unless you directly inquire about it. Some companies even market products to benefit breast cancer when the company themselves produces products that contain carcinogens, such as cosmetics companies or manufacturers of alcoholic beverages. A bit ironic, don’t you think?
And while we’re on the topic of “breast cancer culture” can we please talk about slogans like “Save the Ta Tas” or “I Love Boobies” for a second? I understand the sentiment behind the slogans but when it comes down to it, the person attached to those “ta tas” or “boobies” is ultimately more important than the “ta tas” or “boobies” themselves. They’re just breasts. And to anyone proudly displaying slogans such as “Save the Ta Tas” or “I Love Boobies”, I just want to ask you: Would you still love them if they were not attached to a woman? Because it was estimated that in 2016, about 2,600 new cases of breast cancer in men would be diagnosed and about 440 men will die from breast cancer. Would you still love them if those breasts were reconstructed? Without a nipple? Uneven? Scarred? If they no longer looked like what you thought a breast should look like?
The problem with Breast Cancer Awareness Month is not that it exists. Of course it should exist, and of course it is a serious condition worthy of fundraising and donations. But don’t make someone else’s struggle into your profit and don’t reduce the person struggling to their body parts affected. They’re more than that and breast cancer is more than a pink ribbon.
