Take the Fright Out of Breast Cancer™

PoseyGirl

Hi Freya,

These images are truly disturbing and make me feel ill.

Sara, you're right that at one point, pink served a purpose and was chosen for a reason.But it's time for a new approach, absolutely.

---

nihahi

Ok, I'll accept that you didn't mean to be supportive of the cute and feminine mindset, but that's certainly how it "read" to me.

I'm unclear who the "We're still cute and feminine" are supposed to be...other than fellow women with bc.

The examples posted by Freya graphically show where this Halloween campaign is headed.

sas-schatzi

Mods, you know I am your supporter. I have been here along time. You know I did the cheerleader thing to get members to donate.

Mods. If I have any influence on your action, please, drop this program for this year.

I have a unique sense of what works here. Not arrogant. Sounds arrogant. But my threads are over a million views. That's unique to BCO. Unique any where. Ergo, my voice has a solidness of truth.

What I see and hear is an aversion to this October program. The key in all things is to listen. You asked what members thought. I see and hear..........aversion.

Your meeting group may think it a great thing, been there done that...........outcome a catastrophe that takes years to recover from.

Please, delay this project for this year.

Traveltext

Holey moley Freya, Pink-O-Ween takes the cake.

A reminder that there's more pink junk on the 100-page BCO thread Pinktober Revolution: https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/102/topic...

And on our Pinktober rant site: www.PinktoberSucks.com

marijen

Would the Mods write a letter in general to people and schools and companies whatever regarding how these displays are inappropriate? Post it somewhere we can print it and hand it out to the offenders, who may not realize that is what they are? This thing is already out of control

dlb823

I just looked up the Pink-O-Ween stuff, and it looks like it was a Komen program back in 2010. Thankfully, I don't remember it, and I guess neither does anyone else, although it may be where BCO's marketing folks got the idea.

Like sas, I think of myself as a long time BCO supporter -- since 2008 -- including occasional donations, sometimes in honor of women we've lost. But I am incredibly turned off by the tone of this campaign, and if it gets any traction, I would be embarrassed to be associated with BCO. Deanna

kathindc

The truth is the original breast cancer ribbon was peach and was started by Charlotte Haley in 1990. Charlotte wanted to bring awareness to the fact that the National Cancer Institute's budget was only using 5% for cancer prevention. Estee Lauder and Self magazine wanted to use it for promotional purposes. She wouldn't give permission. In order to get around the problem it was changed to pink. And here we are now with the pinking of October.

I have received two e-mails where this hideous campaign is mentioned. The first was received on September 11 from support@breastcancer.org and the second was from the events manager. Does she really think I want to buy a ticket the this ill conceived event. Here's an excerpt from it:

"Help us make the night even more memorable by sponsoring our valet parking, face painter, or tarot card reader. Click here to check out our sponsorship packages.

"Can't make the event? How about hosting your own Take the Fright Out of Breast Cancer party? We have the tools to help! Click here to see our host toolkit for creative invitation templates, goal posters, and more.

"We hope you will join us in helping to "take the fright out" of breast cancer this October!"

It sickens me to think BCO has stooped so low. They are no better than the other organizations with the rah, rah attitude that ignores what we go through mentally and financially. It's a joke how October is treated and it makes a joke out of those who suffer. Sorry if I offend but it is how I feel particularly after my own diagnosis. Never liked the pinking of October before and hate it now.

Some of you have expressed this very eloquently. I hope that the Mods are getting the higher ups in the organization to read the comments and it isn't just them reading our comments and sugar coating them to those in authority. The powers to be need to read this thread and they need to reply directly to it.

Edited to add: I will have to seriously consider whether or not I will donate to BCO this year after this debacle.

marijen

The event sounds like a bake sale or a craft fair

sbelizabeth

Freya...oh my...

I'd be very tempted to get nekkid and stand next to one of the bulletin boards. Let's just get a visual on those cute, pink boo-bies.

Traveltext

Here are the Frightful campaign sponsors. Perhaps an email to them might make a difference.

Just sayin' but generous donations from just a few those corporations would revamp this website many times over. And that's assuming a generous Silicon Valley donor couldn't be found to do the work pro bono.

So, why are we going down this whole crazy event road?

kathindc

My exact thought Traveltext when I saw the sponsors.

Sara536

Marijen, Yeah, sounds like a bake sale, but the cupcakes are going for $250.00 and the hand-made potholders will set you back $500.00 ($650.00 if they're pink with the BCO logo)!

Fiddleman

Traveltext, pointing out the sponsors is a really good way to expose this ill devised marketing scheme. Good on! And I agree with the vast majority of thee postings. Halloween short for "All Hallows Eve", which in the Roman Catholic Tradition (among others) is the night before the Feast of All Saints, an official Catholic Feast Day, and Holy Day of Obligation. It appears to be uncertain exactly how the Trick or Treat thing started, but I know for many kids Halloween is at least as important as Christmas (just ask any elementary school teacher on Nov. 1 ). The celebration is intended to remind us of our mortality. Death IS scary, no matter how it presents itself, nor what may, or may not, lie in store for us on the other side. For us BC survivors, both male and female, we've faced our mortality and seen the Grim Reaper.

Pinktober has certainly raised awareness and funded a lot of BC research, and we should be grateful for that. But if you're going to put yet another layer onto this particular chiffon cake of a month, let's get a little more focus on the 1% of BC cases that are male. We know BC is scary, but what has Halloween to do with it? It is at best a distraction.

Direct corporate sponsorship of this website would probably be more effective than sponsoring pay-for-play events. But then sponsors won't get as much public exposure to boost their sales. Ours is a Capitalistic society, and like it or not, the bottom line is the Almighty Dollar. If some good gets done corporate pursuits, then great, but no company can exist by losing money, no matter how noble its purpose. It is what it is.

Outfield

Thanks, Travel Text

I have no desire to hurt BCO, but I have a very, very strong drive to defend myself and people I love. The words "Take the Fright Out" hurt me more than corporate pinking. I feel trivialized, belittled, marginalized, treated like a hysteric - "Oh, but there is nothing to fear, little damsel" (with a nod to Travel Text, I know we're not all damsels) - which hurts worse than being shoved into a mold of "cute and feminine." Those words are a much more direct step to minimize my suffering than the (at this point) self-interested camouflaging of an ugly disease with pinkwashing.

So, here is my next step of defense.

"Oath for Good" has a gazillion addresses, and in my limited amount of time this AM I can't figure out the huge corporations. I'm thinking the really big drug companies and JP Morgan Chase probably have whole departments devoted to corporate giving.

I don't know why these started double-spacing.

Myriad Genetics, Inc.
320 Wakara Way
Salt Lake City, UT 84108
Phone: 800 4-MYRIAD (800 469-7423) or 801 584-3600
Fax: (801) 584-3640

Puma Biotechnology, Inc.10880 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 2150
Los Angeles, CA 90024
424-248-6500 Main
424-248-6501 Fax

TESARO
1000 Winter Street
Waltham, MA 02451 USA
+1 339 970 0900

Eli Lilly and Company Global Headquarters

Lilly Corporate Center
Indianapolis, Indiana 46285 USA
Phone: +1-317-276-2000

Center for Restorative Breast Surgery

1717 St. Charles Avenue

New Orleans, LA 70130

The Nerney Family Foundation

400 Inveraray Rd.

Villanova, PA United States 19085-1138

marijen

Don't forget the fundraising is for a website! Not for research. Sad

PoseyGirl

I just want to clarify that I don't take issue with fundraising for an improved site; this is BCO's mandate; they don't claim to be a research organization.

My issue - and I believe many people's' issues here - revolve around the messaging/packaging and how that plays out in the broader arena of breast cancer education out there (which ultimately affects where people put their money in the breast cancer domain).

I'm a bit concerned that if this thread loses focus, it might lose impact

Outfield

PoseyGirl, you're right. I edited.

Traveltext

Good point PoseyGirl. Here is the BCO mission:

"Breastcancer.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing the most reliable, complete, and up-to-date information about breast cancer.

Our mission is to help women and their loved ones make sense of the complex medical and personal information about breast health and breast cancer, so they can make the best decisions for their lives."

BCO runs several websites and true, they are not into research. This site has a huge information trove and an attached community forum. I'd say we all support the maintenance and improvement of the site. The pleas of preference on spending increases for research, particularly for Stage IV, is a widespread one on all bc sites.

October is harvest season for the pink charities and there is a bucketload of cash out there for the asking. Now, I believe it is incumbent on these charities to spend received funds in an effective and ethical manner. This is the gist of the discussion here.

Note to BCO: Could you add "and men" to your mission statement.

kathindc

I second Traveltext's request that "and men" be added to the mission statement. They are much overlooked in the fight against breast cancer.

Jojo0529

I say put the fright in breast cancer. Is there anyone on the plannet who is not "aware" about mammograms?i think people need to be aware of Mets and fear of mets and how our lives our changed forever.

Jojo0529

seriously infuriating . Why not check your testicles on turkey day! Seriously. Doctors should know to check and refer for mammograms seriously

Freya244117

I'll third that, let's not forget the men.

marijen

Ok they don't research, sorry, that's not what I meant. I was pointing out it is a humilating NATIONWIDE campaign for a website. I don't see the need for that as discussed earlier. Iwas just reminding what the fundraising was for. If anything there should be fundraising for research and education on Stage IV even if BCO is not INTO research.

Fiddleman

It is so encouraging to see women taking up the cause for men as well. BC is NON-DISCRIMINATORY. Though it's certainly not "equal opportunity", it has its evil eye on breasts, no matter the gender. Thanks for the encouragement from all those with "non-vestigial anatomy".

Has anyone figured out yet that I have a macabre sense of humor ?

.

Fiddleman

I got a real chuckle out of that analogy, Jojo! Unfortunately I'm uncertain that most docs are aware of the prevalence of male BC. Self exams are not the end-all and be-all of diagnosis, but it sure as heck saved my life. BTW, testicular cancer is also out there (I have a friend who quite literally "gave his left nut"), so checking "the jewels" occasionally might not be such a bad idea.

Sara536

Re: your non-vestigial humor:

🙄🤗😛😂‼️🙃 Sara

Traveltext

Good one Fiddleman, but we all didn't teach biology.

Vestigial: an organ (or part of the body) degenerate, rudimentary, or atrophied, having become functionless in the course of evolution.

Yes, I also lost some vestigial anatomy with bc, but when it came to losing my prostate it was definitely a non-vestigial organ and I'm hoping they invent transplants some time soon.

Tara17

i heartily endorse adding 'and men ' to the mission statement ---many people are unaware that BC can affect men---and not only that, men can often be diagnosed at a a later stage . Increased awareness and earlier diagnosis are very important . The 'pinking' of BC reinforces a subconscious bias that BC affects women only given how we are conditioned to think of pink as a 'girly' color since early childhood . This is n important bias that needs to be addressed.

Sara536

Absolutely, Tara, that may be the most compelling argument for depinking. It could even be the most successfil argument as well if approached from the standpoint of descrimination. Men should not have to be treated as an afterthought because they are in the minority nor should they be relegated to a "seperate but equal" blue section. History tells us that that is not the way to right a wrong.

Tara17

Susan Sontag's 1976 essay "Illness as Metaphor" warned against real physical sickness becoming reduced, in the cultural consciousness, to symbols of strength and weakness, nobility and sin. "My point is that illness is not a metaphor, and that the most truthful way of regarding illness—and the healthiest way of being ill—is one most purified of, most resistant to, metaphoric thinking,"

With this campaign, we go beyond the metaphors to gimmicks in the face of real illness. I am glad that in a prior post, the moderators seemed to say that they are going to go back to the drawing board . Moderators please keep us informed . No matter how far long BCO might be in the planning phase of this marketing /fundraising strategy, its not too late to pull back and change gears-after all Pepsi pulled back on their ill advised Kendall Jenner campaign even though they probably lost a lot of money in the process - so when huge corporations can pull their expensive marketing campaigns from the market, surely BCO can change gears ? - indeed, you my do even better in your fundraising if you truly speak to the hearts and minds of everyday MEN AND WOMEN affected by by BC in an honest straightforward non gimmick-y way. Gimmicks just aren't needed.