help me educate an ignorant blogger
I just finished a year of hell with breast cancer. Through the year I have met people with cancer of every kind and no matter what cancer they were diagnosed with, some have died.
I am very grateful for the people who have shared time, energy and money to help me get to where I am today. I am asking for your help again. There is a woman who is writing negative things about Koman and KFC. She slams Koman and KFC to promote her own cause. Please let her know that support of your care is as important as hers. And more power to Komen for figuring out how to successfully raise money and awareness.
I do not want to help her with SEO to her site so please remove the *** from the link: http://www.myragan.com/***_weblog/index.php?id***=Ragan/jenniferjwindrum&blogid***=82686
HERE IS WHAT SHE WROTE:
Thanks for your responses!! I went to the store yesterday and saw the pink ribbon on Lays potato chips. It's very sad that my first reaction is to cringe. I may be a bit more sensitive as I am a lung cancer advocate...but I really do think most of it comes from my PR background. It doesn't appear Komen really has a strategy other than, "Let's see how many products we can get a pink ribbon on," instead of focusing on partnerships that make sense for both parties and truly support the messaging.
Comments
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I'm sorry but I find it very disturbing that Koman is linked to KFC.....very wrong.
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just wondering..why do you find it disturbing? I don't mean that in a negative way...I just honestly want to know why you don't like it. Do you know something I don't?
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funny, i took my daughter (10) to KFC a few months back.. she was absolutely appalled at the food. I kind of like it, but admit that was probably only the 3rd time in my life that i had it.
I know of wonderful things the KOMEN fund has done. It surely helps many women.
(I can't seem to link to the link you provided)
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As someone who benefits from Komen funds in many aspects of my life, I don't have a problem with this. I also live in Kentucky and will be walking in the Survivor Parade at the Kentucky Oaks this Friday. I am just speculating, but the Kentucky Oaks/Kentucky Derby weekend is a huge deal here. Komen has partnered with Churchill Downs and is painting the Kentucky Oaks pink again this year. KFC's national office is in Louisville and I suspect they wanted to have reason to be part of the profile for this event as they are sponsors for a lot of things in Louisville. Whether you like KFC or not, the people are going to buy the product, and women at risk, my cancer center, and my cancer resource center will benefit from those funds. Komen is paying for my mammogram this year as my insurance company has refused to pay for one for the last four years. I am not going to turn my nose up at KFC's donation and I would not expect Komen to do so. As it is one of my Dad's favorite fast food choices, we will probably be having a bucket this week. If you don't agree with the campaign, don't buy the product. As I credit Komen with being a major factor in the reason I have gone beyond surviving to thriving, I am grateful to them for all of their efforts in raising funds for research and survivor support programs.
I also could not find the blog.
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To go to the blog, you have to take out the three asterisks (***) before hitting send. I am 3 months out from my BMX. When I stopped to get KFC for the family after my first week back to work, I was a little annoyed to see the pink on the bucket---I don't necessarily like being reminded of it all the time. But that is being myopic. The larger scope, that there is a great deal of money raised to help find a way to prevent BC, trumps my need to forget what happened to me. So in the end, I think it is great that so much money is being raised, one way or another....
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I guess I have an aversion to junk food. I understand that the funding is important but from a fast food place.... I guess I think of fast food/junk food as something that is not beneficial in any shape or form. Just me though and I'm weird like that.
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I'm not real up on KFC, but I feel like if you like it, and a lot of people do, then it's an opportunity to raise awareness plus they've made a donation to Komen.
I am not convinced that all the things they say cause or don't cause breast cancer are all that important. Yes, it's better not to weigh 300 pounds but I feel like I've met a lot of women who were living healthy lifestyles, nursed their children like you're supposed to, exercised - and still got breast cancer. If someone wants a bucket of KFC now and then who am I to come down on them? It's good at a picnic!
Now if Taco Bell, another chain that company owns, had a pink taco I'd probably be buying it.
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The problem with a tie-in with KFC is that fat IS a known contributor to the development of breast cancer:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070321161542.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100420152835.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100419172840.htm
And, while I agree with Rose that breast cancer cannot be attributed to any one food or lifestyle choice, I think it's incredibly insensitive and cavalier on the part of Komen to affiliate themselves with a generally unhealthy product like fried chicken.
As far as the blogger, I don't think she meant to imply that any cancer is more deserving of attention than any other, as so many people seem to think she was saying. What I believe she and many of us feel is that we have enough breast cancer awareness already. I don't know if this is accurate, but I was shocked to read that 1/3 of the millions raised by Komen to find a cure, goes back into awareness!
Leading people to believe that they are helping to find a cure for breast cancer by eating a bucket of KFC is not what I would hope for from one of the largest advocates we have, and really makes me wonder if Komen is out of touch with the latest research on bc prevention. JMHO... Deanna
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It may raise money, but it is full of fat and salt. Two things that are pretty bad for you. Would it be a good thing if Marlboro put a pink ribbon on cigarettes and made a donation every time someone bought a pack?
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I've felt like so many of you for a long time. But - I've about decided that I don't give a damn who gives the money as long as they give it!
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thank goodness people give money
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I know I've been touched personally by BC and now know 6 other people who are in various stages of treatment of BC, so I know it is important to be in the public eye and encourage early detection. What is a danger, in my opinion, is people becoming too sensitized to "pink ribbons" on products and fund-raisers. It might be better if it wasn't all the time being publicized on TV and/or radio and now it is in the grocery stores and shopping bags at the stores too. This is too important for people to become numb and realize what is at risk.
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Komen and KFC? That is revolting. The corporate tie in with the breast cancer industry in the US really appals me - and we are seeing more and more of it over here. You don't have to align yourself with disgusting junk food in order to raise money for breast cancer. This really is a step too far.
God I HATE pink!
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I'm offended and appalled by the Komen & KFC partnership, and have sent them both letters to tell them I'm girlcotting them. Well, girlcotting KFC is a non-issue for me, since I haven't set foot in a KFC in over 16 years and can instead be found at home eating my organic, cancer-fighting, cruciferous vegetables....but I will not even consider supporting the Komen foundation until they end this partnership, publicly apologize, and commit to never again partner with a company that manufactures and markets products known to contain cancer-causing substances.
The main problem I have with the partnership is that the grilled chicken that is in those hideous pink buckets CONTAINS CARCINOGENS. http://www.pcrm.org/newsletter/jun09/carcinogen.html The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine reported that in their June 2009 newsletter, so nearly a YEAR ago, and the Komen foundation must know this. I don't care HOW much money KFC is giving Komen - it does not make it okay. We would not NEED so much money being poured into breast cancer research and services if there were fewer cases of breast cancer, and there would be fewer cases of breast cancer if corporations put human health & safety before profits and stopped manufacturing carcinogenic products. Komen's priority is clearly to stay in business, not to end breast cancer, because they are partnering with a corporation that contributes to the INCREASE in breast cancer.
It's hypocritical and inexcusable, which is why I have instead donated money to Breast Cancer Action. http://www.bcaction.org Breast Cancer Action (BCA) is the only national breast cancer group that promises to not accept money from corporations that contribute to or profit from cancer. Thus, they are the only organization I totally trust to TRULY have our best interests at heart. Our health is BCA's number one priority.
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I agree with Rose. What's the big deal? Yes, I agree that KFC is not the most logical pink ribbon partner for Komen. But then there are dozens of companies that seem to have nothing to do with women or breast cancer that do pink ribbon promotions..... this is just one more. I used to get frustrated when I would see the pink ribbon on inappropriate products but these days I just don't see the point in getting upset. The whole pink ribbon thing is out of control and there is nothing I can do about it, so why get stressed? Stress is probably worse for us than KFC!
As for the product itself, it's been years since I've had any KFC but if someone wants to eat the occasional piece of fried chicken, let them eat it. Yup, I understand that by cooking the chicken at high heat (which all restaurants do in order to kill off all sorts of things that could kill us), carcinogens may develop in the product. This is a problem, but it's not a problem that is unique to KFC. Even barbequing meat at home creates carcinogens. I'm not saying this is good and personally I try to avoid products that are known carcinogens but the unfortunate fact is that the world is full of carcinogens, some that we can identify and probably many more than we can't. The biggest carcinogen that we face is life itself - the greatest breast cancer risk factor is being a woman; the next greatest breast cancer risk factor is getting old.
So if KFC want to give money to Komen to support breast cancer, that's fine. And maybe because they are supporting BC, enough questions will be raised about the PhIP in their grilled chicken that they will be incented to figure out a way that it can be reduced/eliminated. If that's what comes out of this, that would be a very good thing. That should be the message sent to Komen - if KFC want to partner with you, pressure them to figure out this PhIP thing.
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I'm reading all these posts and am inclined to agree with those who are dismayed by the Komen/KFC partnership. But.......
.....I think back to my days as a hospital fundraising executive and discussions about whether or not we should accept donations (with no strings attached) from tobacco companies. My first thought was -- hey, who better to donate than those companies whose products, while legal, are likely causing their customers to require expensive hospital care? Others around the table were often aghast that we would stoop so low as to have any association with the tobacco companies.
So, what's the right answer? Komen has decided that going into partnership with various corporations - regardless of what they produce -- is monetarily beneficial to its foundation overall. Does KFC think it will sell more buckets due to this relationship? Or does it -- like the tobacco companies -- feel its corporate image will be enhanced? I suspect it's a bit of both. No one is forcing anyone through the doors of a KFC outlet, after all. And we've seen here on this very website how th Komen Foundation has assisted many BC patients. Isn't that what's really important? JMHO, of course
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I haven't been to a KFC in so long that I really don't know what items are on the menu these days.
It seems that most fast food places go from the sublime to the ridiculous when it comes to trying to strike a balance between food that might entice someone suffering from or recovering from cancer (highly nutritious selections with low fat, etc) and food that appeals to the American taste for all things crispy, fatty, and salty.
CNN did an article about activists "calling foul on KFC" because the food IN the pink buckets may help promote the very cancer the money FROM the bucket is intended to prevent, treat, search for a cure for. If you google "CNN kfc komen" you will find the article.
But if it makes anyone feel any better (and I suppose it won't), apparently the money from the buckets (50 cents per pink bucket of chicken), does not come from ACTUAL SALES of the of the chicken buckets to consumers, but by the number of buckets pre-purchased for resale at each KFC franchise. So if a franchise purchases 2000 pink buckets but only sells 1000 pink buckets of chicken, the donation to Komen is based on the 2000, not the 1000.
And according to the article, despite the controversy, franchises have been flocking to help out. So far, KFC has more than 2 million set aside to donate to Komen. Their goal is $8.5 million.
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The hospital-tobacco company donation dilemna you described, while certainly thought-provoking, seems like it's more a matter of principals, and very different from the Komen-KFC affiliation. Tobacco companies were not asking your hospital to put its logo on their unhealthy products or do co-op advertising with them, and if they had, I'm sure no one would have gone along with it because people would have laughed at the contradiction of a hospital endorsing tobacco, which is what the Komen-KFC affiliation says, at least to me. I would not have a problem with any fast food company giving millions to Komen, nor with Komen accepting that kind of donation. It's just the implied endorsement of a hormone ladden, high fat and/or carcinogen ladden food (all believed to be cancer risk factors) that I have the problem with. But I do love the intelligent debate about this, and am certainly open to having my mind changed... Deanna
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Interesting perspective, Deanna. I guess I see so many pink ribbons on products (and so many ribbons for so many other causes) that I don't see it as an endorsement by the group behind the ribbon. I don't perceive that Komen is endorsing KFC; I see them as using KFC to get their message out and to make money. But I can appreciate that others might not see it that way, and considering that, I can see why you object.
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I'm sure the way you see is, Beesie, is probably the way Komen intended it. Maybe they're not actually endorsing KFC, but by affiliating with them, I feel they're promoting a company that sells unhealthy food that has contributed to the huge obesity problem in the US. And while fried chicken may not be directly linked to causing breast cancer, it certainly isn't healthy either. I don't know -- obviously taking a stand on more healthful eating or other preventive measures isn't part of Komen's mission, and they sure are doing a bang up job at pinking/awareness. I'm just disappointed that they don't seem to see what many people feel is a glaring contradiction about Buckets for the Cure. Deanna
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Having been a 'perky pink breast cancer survivor' for 10 years- I appreciated all the funds going to research for a cure. What does it really matter where the funds come from? Glaring contradiction or not, in this economy, many, many, many folks are forced to eat fast food and if KFC is willing to donate a portion to Komen research, why not? We don't have to eat it.
I look at pink a little differently now that my cancer has returned or reactivated or whatever it has done - its stage iv now. All the funds for research have brought new treatments - kinder and gentler treatments and I am thankful for that but cure, no. There is no more saving the ta-ta's for me - they are gone. I think the pink gives a distorted picture of breast cancer - I wish someone would start talking about saving a life - the reality is there is no truly 'beating' this disease no matter how much money is thrown at it. It should be about making it a treatable 'chronic' condition with a quality of life that is tolerable so we get to live.
I would buy every pink bucket of chicken I could find if that could happen. (and I do like it now and then...LOL)
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