Pink: Not just for Pepto Bismol anymore

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rock
rock Member Posts: 1,486
edited June 2014 in Life After Breast Cancer
Pink-for-BC merchandising. Some of it is hilarious.  Here is a report from "Otter":  A couple weeks ago, I was in a hard-core sporting goods store and saw life jackets (a.k.a. "personal flotation devices") that had the pink ribbon/BC logo on the front.  Yesterday, there was an advertising insert in the local newspaper from "Target" stores. They were promoting a pink vacuum cleaner, a pink Kitchen Aid mixer, and a bunch of other stuff, all for BC. To their credit, the fine print listed how much money from each purchase would be contributed to "the cause."

Cris reports driving six hours to Disneyland on the passenger side of the car gazing at a window cling of a pink ribbon - all the way down and all the way back. "God bless mom. She made a donation and they sent it to her. So here I am, trying to be normal and get away from the fact that I have bc and there it is, staring at me for 12 hours."

Anyway, we figured it might be fun to hunt out and share our funniest, most nauseating, or weirdest "pink" products during these next few weeks.  Pics are optional but certainly more interesting.

Ready, women? Let 'er rip.

Join us in saying "pink off!!" to product promotion and bc as a marketing tool.

Otter and rock_the_bald

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Comments

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited September 2008

    Oh you two are hilarious!!!!!!!! This thread is going to be wonderful!!!!!!

    I agree with the "pink off!!!" statement so very much!!!! It seems that everywhere I turn there is some obnoxious ad using pink for bc.....

    I know EXACTLY where my dislike of pink came from too!!!! I was initially dx'd in October and as I was walking out of the very first appt the radiologist tech saw fit to chase me down the hall and hand me this cutesy little pink bag full of pink breast cancer awareness stuff and even had to verbally point out to me that it was BC Awareness month!!!!!

    I will now look at pink in a different light......I will keep my eyes open for pics of obnoxious pinks so that I can post them here!

    Thank you for starting this......it is going to be a blast to see what everyone comes up with and read all the stories.

    Hugs

    Jule

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited September 2008

    Margerie found a pink trinket - some sort of glass slipper thingy - that was hysterical. Hopefully, she'll come along and post more about it.

    I predict that any day now, my local PriceChopper super market will push the big bin of pink Campbell's Soup cans to the front of the store. Should be fun...

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  • PSK07
    PSK07 Member Posts: 781
    edited September 2008

    I saw the hideously pink Dyson vacuums at Target on Sunday. Dear God, AS IF!  There was the full size version as well as a mini vac for those hard-to-reach places.

    Now, I love my blue & green Dyson, but in PINK?

    I don't know about you all, but the single, shining moment when I had my surgery last year, as well as all the biopsies, was NO USING THE VACUUM until I was completely healed.....am I healed yet? Tongue out

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  • Traci-----TripNeg
    Traci-----TripNeg Member Posts: 2,298
    edited September 2008

    LOL! The title to this thread made me burst out laughing!!! You guys are too freaking funny!!!!!!!!

    Just the thought of it makes me sick. I can't believe they've already started and it's not even October yet!!!

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  • hunkydory
    hunkydory Member Posts: 1,241
    edited September 2008

    Ok, probably not all that funny and a parody for sure:  No harm meant to any still puffing!  If this is too offensive let me know and I will delete it pronto!

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  • sueper13
    sueper13 Member Posts: 1,224
    edited September 2008

    HunkyD,

    GREAT.  I hope it's still there tomorrow so I can show it to my work buddies....

    Pink "Tall Kitchen Size Trash Bags".  No info posted on how much/if any $ to research..... 

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  • Harley44
    Harley44 Member Posts: 5,446
    edited September 2008

    Hunky D.

    I think the Surgeon General's warning is hilarious!   Yes, smoking cigarettes WILL increase profits for the tobacco companies; that is for sure!

    I haven't seen anything pink yet.  I guess I have to get out more!  I know that last year, I saw the Campbell's soup and the Mueller's spaghetti. 

    No, wait...  I think I have been seeing those annoying little breast cancer ribbon symbols on EVERYTHING, but I can't remember WHERE I saw them...  Let me think....

    Harley 

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  • AnneW
    AnneW Member Posts: 4,050
    edited September 2008

    Someone at work brought in those nauseatingly pink M&Ms. It was all I could do to ignore them, with the appropropriate amount of disdain. But, well, hell. Someone had to eat them.

     Anne

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited September 2008

    Just think AnneW......now you dont have to look at them anymoreLaughing....

    I havent really seen much pink yet either but I know its just around the corner and it will be jumping out at me the first time I step into a store....

    Jule

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  • drcrisc
    drcrisc Member Posts: 836
    edited September 2008
    Rock - You did awesome!!  Did I mention the papertowels?  And the socks and t-shirts in the grocery store?!  The grocery store, for heaven's sake!!
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  • pinoideae
    pinoideae Member Posts: 1,271
    edited September 2008
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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited September 2008

    Have you all heard of PedEggs?  Ya know they are supposed to remove calluses on your feet?  Was advertised on television alot and now being sold in local pharmacies like Walgreens, CVS, etc.  Anyways, I saw a pink pedegg yesterday!  And believe it or not, it was selling alot faster than the regular one.  I must go back and get a picture of it.

    Nicki

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  • swimangel72
    swimangel72 Member Posts: 1,989
    edited September 2008
    I have nothing to add YET - but so far this is hysterical! Laughing
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  • chj127
    chj127 Member Posts: 382
    edited September 2008

    I know exactly what you are talking about.  I am a 2-time survivor, but hate all the pink stuff.  It's like it's some fad or bandwagon that everyone is on, and it's overkill for sure.

    One really bad one for me was shortly after I was diagnosed, I went in to get my hair cut (probably the last time before I was to start chemo) and the hairdresser put the cape on me.  It was all black, with a pink ribbon that laid directly on my breast.  I wanted to throw up!  (Pepto Bismol, anyone??)

    Oh, and I saw the pink pots and pans in the Target ad on Sunday.  Puh-leeeez!

    Thanks for the thread.  At least I'm not the only one!

    CHJ

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  • dhettish
    dhettish Member Posts: 501
    edited September 2008

    I am glad to see this forum. I went to Walgreens about 2 weeks ago and next to all the Halloween stuff was the PINK display. I was so angry and I went home and wrote a nice, well written letter warning people that buying pink is NOT helping breast cancer patients. It is actually a savy marketing ploy and they are lining the pockets of corporate america. I suggested that they actually make a donation to a reputable organization instead of buying overpriced junk where maybe, just maybe .25 cents goes to some unknown fund. Unfortunately, it never got printed. I am friends with the editor and have yet to confront him on this.

    Pink was one of my favorite colors for clothing. It is just a color that goes well with my skin tones. I do own some pink ribbon sweatshirts that I bought to help support a new mastectomy store opened by a nurse whose mom died from BC.

    I saw all the pink stuff in Target and read the small print. One item did donate to this site. I cannot remember how much. I think Dyson was going to donate up to 1.75M.

    I don't know.....I am so sick of corporate america. They control everything. Screw the constitution. This is a govt by big business and for big business......Sorry.....election time always puts me in a cynical mood. Getting close to retirement and having our funds drop does not help my mood either.

    I have to go to the grocery store today. So I guess I'll see more. If I can figure out my camera phone....I'll snap some pix. I have a pink highlighter in my purse which I plan to use to highlight the area where it says what little they give.

    Debbie

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  • sarahsewer
    sarahsewer Member Posts: 79
    edited September 2008

    Has anyone seen the Breast Cancer Awareness Try Its and Badges for Girl Scouts? What, like you'd show seven year olds how to do self exams? I had honestly thought about working on this with my 5th graders, but boobs are just way to funny to girls that age. Heck, they seem kind of funny to me these days.

    Sarah

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  • badboob67
    badboob67 Member Posts: 2,780
    edited September 2008

    What about this:

    http://s7d4.scene7.com/is/image/CollectiblesToday/pdtl-48764?$pdtl610$

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  • badboob67
    badboob67 Member Posts: 2,780
    edited September 2008

    Don't we all need a pink ribbon sink strainer?

    http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41jy4cIWW7L._SL500_AA280_.jpg

    Or pink ribbon dice:

    http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41hxUtU65EL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

    And these are absolute essentials, don't you think?:

    http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41D3TT47o7L._SL500_AA280_.jpg

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited September 2008

    Hi Sarah,

    I knew the Girl Scouts have had a breast cancer awareness Interest Project for the older girls (11-17) since the last revision of the program.  Somehow my daughter's troop skipped doing that one...they, and their troop leader who is also a survivor, are more into the high adventure kinds of things that the Scouts offfer. 

    I'd say I can't believe they're bringing it to the younger girls now, but with the current atmosphere at national...

    While shopping with my daughter yesterday for snacks to send her off to college with tomorrow, I saw packages of Pepperidge Farms Milano cookies with the pink ribbon on the packages.  Now we can't even enjoy a cookie with a little chocolate without being reminded?

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  • shari1232
    shari1232 Member Posts: 161
    edited September 2008

    After my biopsy, they wanted to send me home with a pink and white preppy canvas bag that had the ribbon and "Breast Care" right on the front of it.  Can you just see yourself sporting that puppy around?  Gimme a break.  I respectfully declined the bag and grabbed the instant ice pack as the only worthy content.  My surgeon handed me an extremely helpful notebook with blank calendar pages to write down significant dates and appointments, a section for path reports, another for... whatever... and on the front of this white 3-ring binder is a big pink ribbon that takes up almost the enitre page... along with a slogan saying I'm in good hands....

    I'm glad people care... but it's so hard being reminded of your diagnosis on so many different items proliferating every sanctity imaginable.

    There's awareness, and then there's... um... hyper-awareness???

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  • chj127
    chj127 Member Posts: 382
    edited September 2008

    Pink Ribbon Barbie???

    http://www.barbiecollector.com/news/news.aspx?news_id=12

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  • prayrv
    prayrv Member Posts: 941
    edited September 2008

    OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Trish

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  • badboob67
    badboob67 Member Posts: 2,780
    edited September 2008

    I posted about "CANCER BARBIE" last October, but I think it bears repeating.

    From "Janet's Blog":

    "While Pink RibbonTM Barbie® is dressed up for a charity ball in a gorgeous gown and has her flowing blonde hair up in a bouffant hair-do, Real Breast Cancer Barbie is spending the evening alone with her bald head in the toilet."

    Breast Cancer Barbie more accurately reflects the experience of breast cancer. She has lost her hair, gained weight from the steroids given to prevent nausea, and has an IV for her regular infusions. She needs a pill case because the chemotherapy makes it difficult for her to remember if she's taken her medications or not.


     http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~jyanosko/images/breastCancerBarbie.jpg

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  • rock
    rock Member Posts: 1,486
    edited September 2008

    my eyes! my eyes!!!!! (I do love BC Barbie, though.  She even has that chemo gaze so familiar to me!)

    "I have to go to the grocery store today. So I guess I'll see more. If I can figure out my camera phone....I'll snap some pix. I have a pink highlighter in my purse which I plan to use to highlight the area where it says what little they give."  DEBBIE -- I love your guerilla shopper approach!

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  • BethNY
    BethNY Member Posts: 2,710
    edited September 2008

    Pink was never my color. 

    Pink was for powder puffs, girlie girls, cheerleaders, princesses, and certainly not for me.  Then I got breast cancer.  

    Pink replaced my wardrobe, my birthday gifts, and my accessories.  Pink was on every store shelf, from candy to cleaning, looking dainty and perfect.  The pink packages, and wrapping, and ribbons, that made the world pretty for everyone around me while I stood and waited and wondered.  

      "I have Pink,"  

     I wanted to shout, in the scars on my breasts and my abdomen.  I pinked in the bathroom when the red devil took hold

    I pinked on the fence at the Relay for Life

     I shed pink tears when I lost CTG

     I wrote pink words when I advocated for legislature

     I bleed pink for needle sticks, for markers, and scans  

     All of this Pink, and still no cure. Pink is not a vacuum, not a chocolate, not a sock. Pink is not soup, not mascara, or a clock.  

     Pink won't bring back the friends I have lost, and corporate america profits at what cost...  

     Why can't the world see Pink through my eyes?  Maybe cause it's just not my color.

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited September 2008

    I hear you, Beth. Sick of it already...

    A little while ago I saw pink packages of Pep. Farm milano cookies (is nothing sacred anymore?!?). No money from the actual sale went to support bc awareness or patients, but they will donate $200,000 to SGK this year. Just write the damn check already and be done with it, sh*t!

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  • Margerie
    Margerie Member Posts: 526
    edited September 2008

     LOL I knew I would love this thread!!!!!!!!!!!  The bear on the motorcycle Laughing  We should put together a wall of shame.......  Here is my submission:

    hope shoe

     This is the little gem Felicia was talking about.  The Hope Shoe~  I hope she (The Hope Shoe people) knows it is hideous!  And the poor sucker that buys her is spending $27 to have them donate 40 cents to "breast cancer research." 

    I saw the pink Dyson- like I want to think about breast cancer every time I vacuum??!!  YellGood grief, why don't they just come up with some mangled boob keychains or yard flags.....

    Ha.  Felicia and I (and others) were discussing  this topic on another thread and Felicia inspired:

     my "Felicia"  cure this bitch

    design.  No proceeds to worry about!  Instead of marking up this design over cost to produce, I figure you all can donate to a real cause. My design link.

     The design is my sentiments exactly....

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  • iodine
    iodine Member Posts: 4,289
    edited September 2008

    Really cool!  I love that design and statement!

    I was dx'd by mammo on Fri, Sept 28, the following Monday, I rec'd a request for money from SKF.  (YEP, I'll be 6 years in a few days)

    I thought someone from the hospital had already put my name on the list (my dh works there and I used to!) and the word was out, except I'd not even had a bx. yet!

    I had no clue that Oct. was awareness month.   LOL

    I saw an ad for the pedi egg along with a pink robe and pink towel to dry your hair---Har Har==with chemo we don't get HAIR. 

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  • chj127
    chj127 Member Posts: 382
    edited September 2008

    October = breast cancer awareness month.  Oh, yeah.  Before my first dx, I have to admit I didn't pay much attention to bc.  It wasn't going to happen to me, & I really didn't know anyone who had it back then (in 1994).  But my dx in 1994 and again last year in 2007 were BOTH in October.  And it's everywhere, you can't escape it.  I wanted to scream, SHUT UP ALREADY!!  I was in the radiology place waiting for further tests, and they had some morning news show talking about how women need to get their mammograms, and I'm like, OK, OK, I'm here!  SHUT UP ALREADY!  Pink everywhere, you can't avoid it!  And it's only a couple weeks away...

    CHJ 

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  • rock
    rock Member Posts: 1,486
    edited September 2008

    re: BethNYC's "I pinked on the fence at the Relay for Life"  ---Brilliant.

    Henceforth, I intend to use "pink" as a synonym for "puke."

    You women are brilliant. Glad this thread is going so well, I'm tickled . . . um, orange.

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