Pinkwasher: (pink’-wah-sher) noun. A person or company that purports to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon campaign, but manufactures products that are linked to the disease.
Illustration: Jeremy Traum
BCA uses the term “pinkwashers” to refer to companies that say they care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon campaign, but manufacture products that are contributing to the epidemic. Consider the car companies–car exhaust contains chemicals that are linked to breast cancer, yet companies like Ford, Mercedes, and BMW urge consumers to buy and drive cars in the name of breast cancer awareness and research. Companies that market dairy products, like Yoplait, ask women to support the cause by eating yogurt made with rBGH (rBST), despite the numerous health concerns (including breast cancer) that have prompted every other industrialized nation to ban its use. And, cosmetics companies such as Estee Lauder and Avon put pink ribbons on their products, while refusing to sign the Compact for Safe Cosmetics. If cosmetics companies really cared about women, wouldn’t they take the carcinogens and reproductive toxins out of their products?
This October, Think Before You Pink is focusing on pinkwashers, starting with pink ribbon campaigns from car companies–Ford, BMW, and Mercedes. During National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we are asking consumers to do something besides “shop for the cure:”