A CLOSER LOOK: BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH - Blushing for a cause - Many items turned pink in October, but who's giving, and how much?
For people whose favorite color is pink, October was a great month. Others may have been wondering where all those suddenly pink products come from and how much money they bring in for breast cancer research and treatment. Concerns have also been raised recently about whether unscrupulous companies might be taking advantage of people's desire to donate to worthy causes during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Here's a closer look at the purveyors of pink.
Yogurt, hairbrushes, crackers, eye shadow: Consumer items (or their packaging) have a habit of turning pink in October. This hue change started 23 years ago, when people concerned about breast cancer started the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month -- NBCAM. "It was a movement to educate people about breast cancer and the importance of early detection," says Donna Huang, a spokeswoman for NBCAM who also works at AstraZeneca, a company that makes breast cancer therapy products.
Marketing strategists point to the pink campaign as the most successful example of "cause marketing," or selling products by connecting their purchase to a worthy cause.
Nonprofit organizations that fund breast cancer research or provide support to cancer patients, such as the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Susan G. Komen Foundation and CancerCare, participate in NBCAM as a way to bring in revenue. TicTac, for example, will donate $100,000 to CancerCare from sales of pink breath mints during September and October, says Diane Blum of CancerCare and one of the founding members of NBCAM.
Not all products are actually pink. They can have pink packaging, be marked with a pink ribbon or simply state that the purchase of the product will raise money for breast cancer awareness. (And not everything pink raises money for breast cancer groups. Victoria's Secret's Pink label, for example, is just a color.)
Although the nonprofits don't sell the products, they tell consumers how they can buy them, how much money is being donated, and how long the promotion lasts. "We call it 'clear and conspicuous disclosure,' " says Karen White, manager for cause marketing at Komen. "We're making sure consumers have all the information they need."
The organizations' websites are also a way to make sure companies really are donating to the cause.
The donated amount varies. Some of the pink products on the Breast Cancer Research Foundation's website are:
