If anyone has been watching the NFL recently, I’m sure you have seen the explosion of pink shoes, pink gloves, pink ball caps, modified jerseys, pink towels and even pink goal post pads in virtually every game.
Why? Because October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.
I presume that the NFL believes that all of this pink will bring Breast cancer to the forefront of peoples attention, and thus increase donation revenue for Breast Cancer Research.
But stop and think a moment about this – If every pair of Pink Shoes fetches $50.00, every ball cap $20.00, every pair of gloves $30.00 and each Jersey over $100.00, not to mention the towels, pads and myriad other items I have not listed, that amounts to a tidy sum of money.
What if instead of trying to raise awareness in the general public with this pink display, all of the cash to buy these items had been donated directly toward Breast Cancer Research?
I can’t help but think that the additional revenue generated in donations due to the increased awareness brought on by this campaign is but a drop in the bucket when compared to the cost to refit all of the NFL Teams and stadiums.
I’m not discounting the fact that there are aftermarket sales of products that people see pro ball players wearing, and that a tiny portion of that might also go to research, but even adding that in I still believe that the flat outlay for procurement is greater than the increased revenue that the ad campaign could bring about.
Sometimes, people just want a warm fuzzy feeling that they are “doing something” even if that something has no real effect on the initial problem. Wearing a pink ribbon is one such thing.
Barbara Brenner, the executive director of Breast Cancer Action, a nonprofit watchdog group headquartered in San Francisco, says buying pink products has little to do with helping cure and treat breast cancer. Says Brenner: “Everyone has been guilt-tripped into buying pink things. If shopping could cure breast cancer it would be cured by now.”
While some companies do donate part of the profit from the sale of these products, (on average less than $0.05 cents on every dollar of PROFIT, not retail) many do not, and they don’t tell you that they do not. Look up your favorite seller of Breast Cancer Awareness products and try to find out how much of your purchase is going to Breast Cancer Research. That seems to be as hard a task as finding a cure.
If you want to make a donation, make it directly to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Your $10.00 donation will equal over $200.00 in “Breast Cancer Awareness” product purchases.
That’s my perspective, YMMV
Why? Because October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.
I presume that the NFL believes that all of this pink will bring Breast cancer to the forefront of peoples attention, and thus increase donation revenue for Breast Cancer Research.
But stop and think a moment about this – If every pair of Pink Shoes fetches $50.00, every ball cap $20.00, every pair of gloves $30.00 and each Jersey over $100.00, not to mention the towels, pads and myriad other items I have not listed, that amounts to a tidy sum of money.
What if instead of trying to raise awareness in the general public with this pink display, all of the cash to buy these items had been donated directly toward Breast Cancer Research?
I can’t help but think that the additional revenue generated in donations due to the increased awareness brought on by this campaign is but a drop in the bucket when compared to the cost to refit all of the NFL Teams and stadiums.
I’m not discounting the fact that there are aftermarket sales of products that people see pro ball players wearing, and that a tiny portion of that might also go to research, but even adding that in I still believe that the flat outlay for procurement is greater than the increased revenue that the ad campaign could bring about.
Sometimes, people just want a warm fuzzy feeling that they are “doing something” even if that something has no real effect on the initial problem. Wearing a pink ribbon is one such thing.
Barbara Brenner, the executive director of Breast Cancer Action, a nonprofit watchdog group headquartered in San Francisco, says buying pink products has little to do with helping cure and treat breast cancer. Says Brenner: “Everyone has been guilt-tripped into buying pink things. If shopping could cure breast cancer it would be cured by now.”
While some companies do donate part of the profit from the sale of these products, (on average less than $0.05 cents on every dollar of PROFIT, not retail) many do not, and they don’t tell you that they do not. Look up your favorite seller of Breast Cancer Awareness products and try to find out how much of your purchase is going to Breast Cancer Research. That seems to be as hard a task as finding a cure.
If you want to make a donation, make it directly to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Your $10.00 donation will equal over $200.00 in “Breast Cancer Awareness” product purchases.
That’s my perspective, YMMV
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good thread. Also I know awhile back graffiti artist did something called keep a breast (something like that) as well as some chick that goes around spraying a pink ribbon with words saying check yourself.
)
