October's Daily Encounters with "pink stuff"

This link has already been posted, but I really recommend reading the Marie Claire article on pink ribbon excesses. I just have to highlight some snippets along with the link. It is entitled The Big Business of Breast Cancer (Sept. 2011)

Here are more excerpts than I should publish, but if it gets more people to read - it's for a cause. It even suggests we may be wrong when we think any pink has to do some good (my italics and bold):

"Though breast cancer researchers and advocates perpetually plead for more money, the disease is, in fact, awash in it. Last year, the National Institutes of Health, the nation's top agency for health-related research, allocated $763 million to the study of breast cancer, more than double what it committed to any other cancer.

................

"Breast cancer has made a lot of people very wealthy. The fact is, thousands of people earn a handsome living extending their proverbial pink tin cups, baiting their benefactors with the promise of a cure, as if one were realistically in sight. They divert press, volunteers, and public interest away from other, more legitimate organizations, to say nothing of the money they raise, which, despite the best intentions of donors, doesn't always go where it's supposed to.

......

"Last June, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed suit against the Coalition Against Breast Cancer, calling it a "sham charity" that for 15 years "served as a personal piggy bank" for the group's insiders. According to the complaint, founder Andrew Smith; his girlfriend, Debra Koppelman; and their associates pilfered almost all of the $9.1 million raised in the past five years alone. Other eye-opening claims:

.................

"There is a lot of deception that goes on with breast cancer groups," says Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, a Chicago-based nonprofit watchdog group. One problem, he says, is that breast cancer charities are often run by well-meaning but inexperienced survivors or relatives who duplicate the efforts of established organizations. They use donor dollars to print their own educational brochures, though they certainly exist elsewhere; they organize events to promote awareness - "Skydive to End Breast Cancer!" - then blow too much of their funds getting these events off the ground. There's no requirement of a college degree or business experience to run a charity. You don't even need a clean legal record. (The treasurer for the Coalition Against Breast Cancer was a Long Island housepainter with several warrants for unpaid child support.) Even the names of many charities are designed to fool donors into believing they are bigger and more impressive than they are. Case in point: Though its moniker suggests it presides over a vast network, The Breast Cancer Charities of America is a tiny, three-woman outfit operating just outside Houston that banked $2 million in 2009, mostly through telemarketers. 

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"The Breast Cancer Society, based in Mesa, Arizona, has made an art form of this kind of creative accounting. Founded in 2007 by James T. Reynolds II, now 37, the organization provides critically ill breast cancer patients across the country with cash grants to pay for everything from groceries to medical bills, Reynolds says. In 2009 (the most recent year for which tax records are available), the BCS claims it raised $50 million in contributions, the bulk of which went to supplying medicines to hospitals in Third World countries like Guatemala and Ethiopia, ostensibly for the treatment of breast cancer. (Reynolds says he has visited only three of the eight hospitals that purportedly received these medicines.) Press him on his group's finances and he admits that, in fact, BCS raised just $15 million in cash donations in 2009. The other $35 million represented his estimate of medications that the BCS accepted as gifts or bought at a major discount but then listed on its books as having much higher values. For example, BCS reported that it sent $8.8 million worth of goods to hospitals in East Asia. "I'd have to look it up, but it probably cost us maybe $40,000 to procure and distribute that," Reynolds concedes in a phone interview.

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"For anyone worried about where their donations are going, here's a useful tip: Skip the pink-ribbon merchandise. Because no one really owns the rights to what has become the universal symbol of breast cancer (though Susan G. Komen for the Cure trademarked its own version), peddling the logo has become a massive racket, overrun by slick profiteers exploiting the public's naive assumption that all pink purchases help the cause. Often they don't. Tchotchke vendor Oriental Trading sells an extensive line of pink-ribbon party favors, including "Find the cure" car magnets and "I wear pink in honor of" buttons. Save for proceeds from its pink rubber duckies, part of a sponsorship deal with Komen, not a penny of Oriental Trading's breast cancer novelties goes to breast cancer. Three years ago, veteran nurse Christina McCall, the daughter of a breast cancer survivor, launched Pink Ribbon Marketplace, an online store based in Germantown, Tennessee, with a vast array of pink-hued goodies. "As a woman and the mother of three daughters, it quickly became apparent that creating a business that gives back to breast cancer victims and their families was important to me," she writes on her store's website. "I personally chose our local American Cancer Society and Reach to Recovery Program to be the receipient [sic] of funds we donate." But when asked about those donations, McCall fesses up that, in fact, no monies have ever gone to the American Cancer Society or its breast-cancer-targeted Reach to Recovery program.

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"Google "pink ribbon," and the first listing to pop up is pinkribbon.com, the glossy website of Pink Ribbon International, an Amsterdam-based outfit owned by Dutch businessman Walter Scheffrahn. The site serves up an eclectic mix of breast cancer information and merchandise, including a yard sign ($14.99) and barbecue apron ($16.99) embossed with the site's logo. Over the past seven years, Scheffrahn has shelled out 200,000 euro ($288,000) to buy the rights to the enviable pinkribbon.com domain name in roughly 40 countries. "There's not a real global awareness of the pink ribbon," says Scheffrahn. "We want to take it to the next stage." But despite its official-looking packaging, his site is riddled with misleading information, including a statement that Scheffrahn's company donates "10 percent of its company capacity and funds" to charity. Exactly how much is that? Scheffrahn says it refers to manpower, not actual dollars. Scheffrahn also claims that 90 percent of donations made to breast cancer through his websites go to charity. (Ten percent is reserved for overhead, he says.) But this, as it turns out, is also a bit fuzzy. Scheffrahn says his entire Web network generated "something like $20,000" by the end of last year." 
 

Full Link:

 http://www.marieclaire.com/world-reports/news/breast-cancer-business-scams-3

Remember this excerpt from the Marie Claire article: (http://www.marieclaire.com/world-reports/news/breast-cancer-business-scams-3)

Tchotchke vendor Oriental Trading sells an extensive line of pink-ribbon party favors, including "Find the cure" car magnets and "I wear pink in honor of" buttons. Save for proceeds from its pink rubber duckies, part of a sponsorship deal with Komen, not a penny of Oriental Trading's breast cancer novelties goes to breast cancer.

Read more: Pink Ribbon Business - Breast Cancer Charity Scams - Marie Claire

...well, here is Oriental Trading's line of pink-ribbon party favors which do NOT help to support breast cancer research:

More non-donations here:

http://www.orientaltrading.com/party-themes-and-events/theme-a1-90000+1304-1-1.fltr 

--and it's okay if people like them and buy them, so long as they realize that not a cent is going to a bc charity, let alone research. 

Money.  Breast cancer is a cash cow for so many companies.

I attended a "race" today.  One thing led to another as I was thinking back on all the stuff I saw.

One of the things I can't stand is to see "hottie" used with breast cancer.  I won't go into why and all, but I think you might figure out part of it when I post what I read in relation to one of the teams...

"Our practice is focused on both cosmetic and reconstructive surgery.  We are blessed to help many breast cancer patients on their journey to well-being and looking fabulous!"

"We named our team "Hotties" because it best describes our patients!  Dr (who I wont name) gives them fabulous cleavage and they give uas a lifetime of inspiration.  I run like a hottie..." 

I need to go outside for some fresh air. Right NOW.

otter

I can't humour you with a picture, but I certainly agree.  I think the pink vacuum cleaner was the strangest thing I've seen.  Breast cancer and vacuuming.  Two favorite things that go together.  To be honest I almost don't even want to turn on the TV till November.  I'm glad that money is being raised.  I'm glad awareness is being raised, but I really don't want to be slapped in the face with reminders every time I turn around.  If I come across anything as 'wonderful' as the vacuum, I'll try to send you a pix. 

Marie - that is awful (the "hotties" thing).

I mean, I am the only person I know who DID see BC as an aesthetic Godsend because I got great new breasts for free (minus copays) and got rid of ones I detested BUT I wasn't looking to be some plastic surgeon's billboard bimbo! Those people should be reported to the profession's ethics board.

I would love to find out if the Orthodontist in Colorado Springs that terminated my daughter 4 days after he found she had breast cancer is particiapating in any of these"BCA" inappropriate ads and displays. Wouldn't surprise me in the least!

Brinker speaks in a very long article in today's New York Times.  "Welcome Fans, to the Pinking of America."  She knows what her critics are saying about her...But she claims she learned all she needed to know about establishing the Susan G. Komen For the Cure, working at Neiman Marcus that it's all about selling a product and she takes her cue from the AIDS playbook.....Check out the article by Brandon Thibodeaux....

Chickadee I agree but not purchasing any of it guarantees that none of it will go to research. Fraud has always been an issue in manufacturing as well. (Think fake designer bags). We just need to do our best and choose well known companies.

… and I'm still going to buy that duct tape.

We also need to keep in mind that even IF some of these monies go to well-known, national organizations like SG Komen, that their phrase "for a cure" is often misleading.  SG Komen keeps 75% of their monies locally for non-research activities, with a MAXIMUM amount of 25% sent to a national organizations for possibly being spent on research.

http://komenwatch.org/2011/04/15/komen-contradictions-cure-vs-research/ 

Spotted today at Toys 'R Us of all places...pink ribbon playing cards!  Sorry I don't have a camera on my phone so I couldn't take a picture.

My daughter did ask where the $3 is going- I think it was towards the socks

The artcle made me sick - Brinker/Komen knowlingly provides misleading information and they practically admit as much!

Here goes, for those who haven't seen it:

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/business/in-the-breast-cancer-fight-the-pinking-of-america.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&src=twrhp

Excerpts:  

" Komen is an expert at packaging complicated medical information into emotionally appealing sound bites. Its glass-half-full approach can risk oversimplification.

But some patient advocates say women might want more balanced information. The (Dallas) Cowboys' (BC awareness) video, for example, seems to suggest that screening will prevent 98 percent of breast cancer deaths. But the correct statistic is that when breast cancer is caught early, 98 to 99 percent of women will be alive five years after the diagnosis - but that screening itself may not extend everyone's life. (Komen executives said the script they provided to the football players contained incorrect language and they planned to reshoot the segment.)

....... 

The Komen print ad, meanwhile, presents statistics in a simplified way that seems to overpromote the benefits of screening, some cancer experts say.

"It changes the focus of what we should be looking at to some advertising, marketing slogan," says Dr. Otis W. Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. He says advocacy groups, including his own, should be more cautious in explaining that mammography has limitations even as they promote screening as an important tool.

Ms. Thompson, Komen's president, says the group acknowledges that screening has limitations - it provides more detail on benefits and drawbacks on its Web site. Even so, she says, Komen is "happy to review our advertising if people are unhappy with it."

Shaking head! 

More and more, I want to say, "don't buy pink!" 

VR - What got me is that Brinker later in the article is quoted as claiming that she is trying to emulate the AIDS awareness campaigns - she misses the point entirely and forgets that what made those campaigns so very compelling is that they spoke the naked truth.

All that "pink stuff" raises a ton of money used for breast cancer research, for educating the public on the symptoms of breast cancer, the importance of self-examination, & provides free screening to those in need. In a perfect world there would be unlimited funds for medical reasearch but until that time, I'll help paint the town pink. Hats off to the creative individuals behind the brilliant marketing plan.