Gag Me With a Pink Ribbon

This story first ran in Seattle Weekly in October 2004.

First, let's talk about cake. Then let's talk about why you shouldn't "indulge for the cure."

Twelve Seattle-area restaurants have joined in an event sponsored by Athena Partners, best known for its bottled water, to offer pink desserts during October, which—in case you missed the countless pink ribbons suddenly blooming everywhere— is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Chefs at the restaurants created special pink desserts to mark the occasion. Examples include "Pink Cloud" (white chocolate angel-food cake with Chambord sabayon) at Ray's Boathouse; "Tickled Pink" (a raspberry cupcake with pink mascarpone frosting, accompanied by a strawberry ice-cream truffle and pink-ribbon butter cookie) at the Yarrow Bay Grill; and "Kick It" (bittersweet chocolate pound cake and chocolate ganache wrapped in a pink-and-white "tootsie roll") at Earth & Ocean. If you order one of these desserts, the restaurant will donate the net profits to Athena, which in turn will give the money to organizations that do research on breast and gynecological cancers.

[In 2004] I work[ed] as a freelance Web writer for the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, where I'm also a patient, receiving ongoing treatment for metastatic breast cancer. I recently sampled the pink dessert at the Dahlia Lounge in order to write about it for the SCCA site—and it was delicious. The Dahlia's pink dessert is a warm brown-butter almond cake, with fresh figs and a scoop of prosecco ice cream, topped with the ubiquitous ribbon, in this case made of pale pink meringue. I enjoyed every bite, except for the ribbon, which I left on the side of my plate. The dessert costs $8.

So let's do the math. You order the dessert for $8, plus a cup of coffee for, say, $2. Add in tax and tip, and the bill comes to about $13. Of that, the restaurant gives Athena the net profit, generally between $3 and $4, according to Trish May, founder of Athena Partners and a breast cancer survivor herself. The Dahlia Lounge had sold 34 desserts in five days. So, say they sell 204 in the month; that's only a donation of about $800. Pocket change. One small research project costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, if not more.

There's a simpler solution: Skip dessert and send $8, or the whole $13, directly to your favorite hospital or research center. I don't like to criticize local restaurants that step up when asked to raise money for cancer research, but I think the "pink dessert" campaign is misguided.

Then there's the issue of overeating. The campaign tag line is "indulge for the cause," which, in my view, encourages women (and men, for that matter) to feel OK about overeating because it's for a good cause. How many Seattle women realize that being overweight or obese may double their risk of getting breast cancer? That's according to SCCA's Dr. Julie Gralow, a co-author of Breast Fitness. For women who are breast cancer survivors, being overweight doubles the chances that the cancer will return.

I'm willing to go easy on nonprofits like Athena, which exists solely to raise money for cancer research and awareness, but the amount raised this way is surprisingly small. Athena sold 1 million bottles of water in its first year in existence (with the motto "Every bottle brings us closer to a cure"), but donated only $30,000 to cancer research. And that's with the founder, May, paying most of the start-up costs out of her own pocket.

Where pink marketing really runs wild is in the for-profit sector. Retailers offer pink-themed merchandise, then donate only a tiny share of the profits to cancer research. I'm tripping over these products everywhere I go this month. At the pet store, a pink dog collar printed with pink ribbons sells for $9.99; the tag says 30 cents (30 cents!) from the sale of this product will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the 800-pound gorilla of cause marketing.

But wait, there's more! At the tea shop, a pink tin of candy. At the supermarket, pink M&Ms—buy the M&Ms for $2.99, and Komen gets 50 cents. (Three dollars for an 8-ounce package amounts to four times the usual price, based on volume.) Other recent pink products: scarves, clothing, and nail polish. Nail polish? All of this just encourages us to indulge in retail therapy while trivializing a very serious disease. This is not about raising money for cancer research; this is about companies selling you stuff you don't need, just to make a profit. Don't fall for it.

@ Jeanne Sather, 2004, 2006

Comments

[Alex Roberts]

This brings to mind a piece one of my heroines, Barbara Ehrenreich, wrote for Harpers in late 2001. In it she criticized the breast cancer 'movement' and pink ribbon culture. She illuminated that 800 pound gorillas (such as the SGKF) deliberately ignore research targeting mutagenic causes of cancer produced by large chemical corporations and other polluters whose products and byproducts may be culpable. I found the following text of a speech she gave on the subject:
http://www.annieappleseedproject.org/barehar.html

[Bill]

Another alternative is to send your money to a group that is directly invovled in preventing breast cancers. Such organizations as the Laleche League (http://www.lalecheleague.com) or local variants that help women breastfeed make a direct reduction in breast cancer for two generations.

Breastfeeding even as little as six months (solid breastfeeding, not once a day token breastfeeding) reduces risk by as much as 11%, two years and it is about 25%, six and you've dropped risk by about 2/3rds. Additionally, it provides female infants with a layer of prevention when they get older.

[Christina joseph]

I understand that the pink ribbons help people who have had a friend or relative who has died of breast cancer, and I certainly understand their sadness and grief. But, I repeat, not one woman who is now living with breast cancer, or even a survivor, who wrote in to tell you that she buys pink ribbon merchandise or that she feels supported or comforted by it.

[david]

I only looked upon those things which can be helpful for me in future,that would surely help me to understand in a right way.

[Passionate baker]

What you folks say makes a lot of sense. I'm glad there is a beginning coz one feels let down when you think of commercial profit behind a cause. At least the virtual world of bloggers helps spread the word with little to gain commercially. I baked for PINK in October & your posts have set me thinking in my little corner of the world.

[rev shawn]

Your posting echoes a conversation I had about twenty minutes ago with a friend ... I said - "too bad people wouldn't take the money they spend on all the pink-ribbon stuff, and just send it directly to the research facilities and stop the consumerism juggernaut ...
I particularly like your reminder of food based donations ... skipping a pink dessert is better for you, and the money saved could be better spent ... it's SO SIMPLE.
Yet so hard ...
Thanks yet again for this !!

[Lulu]

Actually Christina, You're wrong...I'm a breast cancer survivor and the "pink" explosion empowers me. I find it liberating to be surrounding by an organization such as Komen that markets themselves so damn well that they get everyone and everything to donate to find a cure for a cancer I HAD. I'm sure if I had another cancer it might bother me...I can completely understand, but I didn't. I had the one that is literally out there in everything I see and do. I don't care where the money comes from as long as it comes!!

[Keri]

Until my step-mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in February, I completely agreed with you on the pink ribbon push – I found it offensive and it reminded me too painfully of my two aunts who lost their battle with the disease. And I still agree with you.

But my step-mother doesn’t. She feels comforted by the pink diamante ribbon she’s wearing today. She had two little pink ribbon angels attached to her beanie when she attended chemo. I asked her why, and she said it made her feel less alone – especially as other people had purchased both the ribbon and angels.

I don’t know. I can see how exploited people might feel by this, but I am loathe to disagree with anything that takes away even a second of peace or comfort from my step-mother.

[sarah]

I have to say, I'm getting a little tired of the constant whining about companies who "only" give $50,000, or in this case, an estimated $800 for research.

You expect people to give their money to research directly, but clearly that's not happening as much as you want. Isn't SOME money better than none?

You may want to check with those restaurants to see how low their profits are, and how great it is that they're doing anything for charity in these horrible economic times.

[eliana]

I think it's ridiculous to expect everyone to DONATE without getting something in return. It would be a wonderful society if that were the reality, however it's just not. Therefore if it takes a pink mug that someone purchases to get a 10 cent donation to Komen...so be it...it'll all add up for Komen and the company makes a profit as well. Welcome to America!