WHAT THE CLUCK? "Buckets for the Cure" - KFC & Komen

Raili · April 2010

KFC and Komen for the Cure have formed a partnership, selling pink buckets of fried chicken to raise money for breast cancer research. This is problematic on so many levels. Breast Cancer Action is speaking out about this, and has started a letter-writing campaign to KFC and Komen, urging them to reconsider. Over 1000 people have already sent letters.

You can go here (http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6098/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2758) to edit and send the following letter:

"Dear KFC and Susan G. Komen for the Cure,

I am appalled by your "Buckets for the Cure" partnership. I share Breast Cancer Action's shock at this outrageous campaign, which uses the breast cancer epidemic to improve the American public's perception of KFC, and increase the company's profits from the sale of pink buckets of chicken. There is no doubt in my mind that countless people affected by breast cancer find this campaign offensive and upsetting, as is evident from many blog posts and Facebook pages I have seen.

KFC (with Susan G. Komen for the Cure's blessing) is engaged in one of the worst examples of pinkwashing. A pinkwasher is a company that purports to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink-ribboned product while at the same time manufacturing products that contribute to the disease. In this case, KFC is encouraging people to buy pink buckets of chicken to demonstrate its alleged commitment to ending the breast cancer epidemic. However, KFC's food is unhealthy and much of it is marketed to low-income communities. KFC thus contributes to the significant problem of providing poor food choices for low-income communities in the United States, who disproportionately suffer from poor breast cancer outcomes and other problems that may be exacerbated by an unhealthy diet.

Instead of partnering with a corporation that sells unhealthy food, I believe that Susan G. Komen for the Cure should work with companies that do not contribute to the breast cancer epidemic."

idaho · April 2010

Amen sister! Maybe KFC should open their eyes and acknowledge that all the drugs and estrogen they give their chickens to make them bigger faster is a contributor to cancer...... Shame on them for trying to make it look like they care. Tami

dlb823 · April 2010

Isn't it ridiculous?! And it isn't even October, which made me also wonder if we're about to see a new wave of awareness and pink-washing that is no longer limited to October.

Thanks for showing us the way to protest this ridiculous affiliation, Raili. Deanna

Editing to add... After I sent my letter today, I got email responses back from both Komen and KFC, defending their affiliation and suggesting that I should order the flame grilled (or whatever it's called) chicken if I'm concerned. Too funny (ridiculous)! They absolutely just don't get it!!!

"The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears" Native American proverb
Diagnosis: 2/1/2008, 1cm, Stage IIa, Grade 3, 1/16 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2-

konakat · April 2010

What the cluck is right! I ended my letter suggesting (sarcastically) that if they partner with KFC they might as well partner with cigarette manufacturers.

konakat · April 2010

I got that form letter too -- I guess they're getting a lot of grief. Idiots. We don't need pink buckets, pink anything, we need a cure. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Raili · April 2010

dlb, yeah, isn't that ridiculous?! Especially because the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine reported nearly a YEAR ago that there are carcinogenic substances in that "healthy" grilled chicken at KFC!! http://www.pcrm.org/newsletter/jun09/carcinogen.html

And Komen chooses to partner with them anyway?? There's no way to justify that, IMO.

dlb823 · April 2010

I hadn't seen that, but why am I not surprised?! Have you sent a copy of it to Komen?

I wonder what PhIP is; do you know? Is it a by-product of grilling, like all charbroiled meat has? Or is it something KFC and the other restaurants named in that lawsuit actually add for a grilled flavor? Deanna

AnnNYC · April 2010

Deanna, PhIP is a by-product of fast grilling at high heats, just as you guessed -- it is the most common of the "heterocyclic amines" produced in meat by grilling.

PhIP stands for "2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4-5-b]pyridine"

From a 2007 paper about how PhIP causes breast cancer in rats:

"Diet has long been recognised as one of the major factors that can influence the development of cancer ([Doll and Peto, 1981] and [WCRF, 1997]). Consumption of meat is positively correlated with human cancer and the cooking of meat is known to generate chemical carcinogens of extreme genotoxic potency, including a family of heterocyclic amines (Sugimura, 1997). The most abundant of these heterocyclic amines, 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4-5-b]pyridine (PhIP), has been shown to specifically induce tumours of the colon, breast and prostate in rats ([Ito et al., 1991] and [Shirai et al., 1997]), which, co-incidentally are the three commonest sites of diet-associated cancer in Western society. In realising its mutagenic potential, PhIP requires metabolic activation (by CYP1A2) and induces fundamental changes in the biochemistry of the cell that result in a number of genes being differentially expressed. The initial consequences of exposure to activated PhIP would seem to involve damage to DNA (Zhu et al., 2000). Cells that survive these early events appear to maintain a damaged gene set that leads to their demise by apoptosis (presumably extensive damage) or survival with a mutated genome. Recently, we have shown that PhIP possesses oestrogenic activity at very low doses (10^-9 to 10^-11 M) that can invoke a mitogenic response (Lauber et al., 2004). Since human consumption of cooked meat can lead to PhIP concentrating in body fluids including milk (DeBruin et al., 2001), there is a distinct possibility that low-dose PhIP is oestrogenic and mitogenic in humans. In this context, the following points are striking: (i) PhIP specifically induces tumours of the breast, prostate and colon; (ii) the major sites of diet associated cancer in humans are breast, prostate and colon; (iii) each of these tissues is strongly influenced by hormonal oestrogenic chemicals; (iv) the primary endogenous oestrogens are known to contribute to cancer burden in these tissues."

OneBadBoob · April 2010

Oh Lordy--just shaking my head here--

I never bought KFC in the past, and have no intention of doing so in the future!

Edited to say, what next? Phillip Morris giving $.50 per pack of cigarettes to lung cancer research?

NatureGrrl · April 2010

Glad to hear I'm not alone in my outrage. Sad that people (because behind the companies are people that make these decisions) take advantage of things like cancer.

zweifatchicks · April 2010

Hey folks,

My wife and I are both horrified by this, not just because of the health connections with fast food -> obesity -> breast cancer, but because it's an empty corporate gesture that really doesn't cost KFC much.

We have tiny voices, but we have voices. We decided to do a podcast episode about it and propose that instead of supporting KFC, folks stay home to eat one night and donate the cost of a bucket directly to Komen instead.

My mom had breast cancer and I know I've fallen prey to the "well, it's pink and some of the money goes to charity" mentality after her diagnosis and recovery. We need to send a message to the corporate world that they can't ride a pink wave to higher sales.

Tracy and Sheila Mazur

Zwei Fat Chicks

Raili · April 2010

That's awesome that you're doing that podcast, Zwei! It IS important to use our voices!!

Can I suggest that you encourage people to donate to Breast Cancer Action instead of Komen? IMO, Komen, by partnering with KFC despite knowing that there are carcinogenic substances in those pink buckets of chicken, is just as guilty in this. Breast Cancer Action - http://www.bcaction.org - is the only national breast cancer organization that does not accept money from corporations who profit from or contribute to cancer. I donated to them a few days ago to protest the KFC/Komen partnership!

Bren-2007 · April 2010

I saw the pink bucket KFC on t.v. last night. OMG ... who wants to eat fried chicken out of a pink bucket ... even considering all the health implications.

I'd be more accepting of this trend towards pink everything if the focus was on funding for new chemo's, immunotherapy, research grants for gene therapy, etc.

I don't like the entire world thinking I have some girly pink ribbon disease. Or the popular cancer. The focus needs to be on those dying .. and treatment and a cure for them.

What's next .. pink coffins?

Raili · April 2010

I wish there was a larger focus on prevention.

NatureGrrl · May 2010

Had to add: At first, I was drawn into the commercial ("this is for Carol," my name)(how often is the name Carol used anywhere?? not many) but then I was quickly offended by the whole thing. But I thought it was just me being "overly sensitive" about the issue... I'm so glad my gut was once again on target (oh, I have learned volumes about listening to my gut!). I've put it on my blog and on my FB page and added my thoughts about it all to KFC and Komen, although I think both have made it clear they don't care how people who actually have cancer think. Too bad we have to be on the watch for such abuses. Too bad there are so many who are so willing to exploit our humanity to make a buck.

WHAT THE CLUCK? "Buckets for the Cure" - KFC & Komen

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