Pink Ribbons, Inc.

As the Founder and President of a non-profit organization which raises funds for breast cancer research I found Pink Ribbons, Inc. disturbing and unproductive. I was inclined to rattle off each offense and elaborate on why I disagree. After having settled down a bit I will, instead, express a concise reply.

I fear this film stigmatizes the business of raising funds for a worthy cause into something ugly and disingenuous. I fear movie viewers will be confused and demoralized by the film's ugly message. And, I fear past supporters may feel so degraded and shamed by this film that they will choose to direct their efforts and money elsewhere.

We at The Lynn Sage Foundation agree that a collaborative approach to medical research is ideal and that activism can be constructive. Transparency is essential. Research into environmental causes of cancer is also very welcome. Funding worthy projects is simply not possible without the aid of corporations and individuals. Government dollars are scarce and dwindling.

While their were some useful messages within the movie, the emphasis placed on sensationalism and inaccuracies is useless. We, and we presume many of our non-profits peers, would welcome the help of corporations, individuals and associates to collaborate on finding the causes, better treatments and a eventually a cure for this terrible disease.

You can't walk into a store these days without being inundated by the ubiquitous pink ribbons adorning every sort of product from food stuffs to clothing to automobiles. You've probably purchased something that promised a donation towards the "fight' against breast cancer. Maybe you've even participated in a 5K run to support family or friends dealing with the disease. You have the best intentions, and you're not alone. One organization has raised over 1.9 billion dollars via this method. So what has the real impact been of this phenomenon?

Sadly, not much. This disturbing fact, along with many others of equal discomfort, are at the heart of "Pink Ribbons, Inc.," a new documentary now in general release. Director Lea Pool takes Dr. Samantha King's 2006 book "Pink Ribbons, Inc. - Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy" and expands upon it via interviews, documentary footage, and current data.

Here are three facts gleaned from the film that should give everyone cause to pause:

* Since 1940, the chances of a woman developing some form of breast cancer have gone from 1 in 22 to 1 in 8.

* Only 5% of the money spent on breast cancer research goes into researching environmental causes.

* A large number of products sold that donate a portion of their proceeds towards breast cancer organizations contain ingredients known or suspected to cause cancer.

The film traces the transmogrification of the "fight" against breast cancer from political activism to consumer activism. Remember the days when you just wrote a check to The American Cancer Society? Or you joined a protest march against a corporate polluter? Now you can spend 50 cents on a container of yogurt, peel off the lid, wash it, stick it in an envelope, spend 45 cents on a stamp, and mail it back to the company so that they will make a 10 cent donation. Do the math.

And what about companies that "enlist in the war on cancer" that are on one hand developing pharmaceutical treatments for breast cancer but on the other hand sell pesticides containing cancer-causing agents?

As good as this film is in exposing the issues surrounding cause marketing, it fails to answer one simple question (though apparently not from trying. Companies are notoriously tight-lipped on the subject.) – How much do these companies profit from the sale of these products versus how much do they contribute to the cause? As one of the members of a Stage IV Cancer Support group asks, "Are they profiting from my disease?" If the answer is yes, would you still buy that paper towel?

The film's bottom line is this - Has the cheerful, fuzzy pink aura built around breast cancer to facilitate "awareness" and charitable giving obfuscated the harsh realities of the disease? We still don't know what causes it; the treatments are pretty much the same as they were 50 years ago, mortality rates are the same as they have been. Has the "branding" of the cause led us to fail to ask the tough questions? Where is the money going? How is it being spent? What exactly is being researched?

See this film. It may give you something to think about before you sign up for that next run...

www.worstshowontheweb.com

While I don't agree with some of the main points made by the documentary, I appreciate the film's honesty in discussing the corporate culture that has become pervasive in breast cancer fund-raising. I find it bizarre that there is this culture in the US that seems to think that throwing money at a cause with inevitably lead to solutions. The film makes a great point about holding the health and research industry more accountable. People are pouring money down the drain funding basic science research and incorrect mouse models that will never be translated into treatments for human beings. They are supporting monolithic institutions like the research and health care industries that have their own self-interests at heart. Researchers and medical professionals make their livelihood off of this funding. The majority of them don't have any real interest in finding a cure when they can milk the cash cow for their own benefit for years.

Same old story: charities profiting from people's struggles with sickness. Whether it's big names like Ferragni and Balocco or small research institutions studying rare diseases, the scheme is always the same.

Does the cheerful image built around breast cancer really help ill women, or does it hide the harsh truth? We still don't know what causes it, treatments haven't changed in 50 years, and survival rates are the same. Where's the donated money going? How's it used? Before you join the next charity run, think about it. Donations often end up in basic science and flawed research models that don't help people. Big institutions, inclluding the health care industry, benefit, and those in it make a living from the funds. The main focus here seems more on cashing in for personal gain. The prevailing notion that a complex problem can be solved by simply pouring money into it is a quintessentially American capitalist mindset, albeit fundamentally flawed.

Only among the left-wing lunatics that make documentaries for the National Film Board of Canada could one find the kind of person who would complain that the experience of getting a deadly disease is made somehow less dignified because of its association with corporate giving. Author Barbara Ehrenreich, cancer survivor, complains about everything she can think of: that anti-cancer activists are annoyingly upbeat, that some of the products sold to support breast cancer research are cuddly or cute, that the grim, sad, angry sorts of cancer patients out there don't get enough airplay. This documentary remedies that with several wrenching interviews with weeping cancer patients suffering from end -stage cancer. See, audience? What do you think of those stupid little ribbons now, huh?

Samantha King even goes so far as to call an upbeat attitude in he face of the disease "tyranny." As in "tyranny of cheerfulness."

The Susan G. Komen Foundation ran afoul of feminists a few years back by daring not to support Planned Parenthood's abortion-on-demand factories. It seems Lea Pool and her backers at the National Film Board have fired a dark and angry salvo back at the "pink ribbon" industry that, if the film's subtext is anything to go by, is guilty mainly of making it more difficult to politicize the disease and make it the realm of angry feminists with anti- capitalist leanings.

Well-produced, but probably not a fair portrayal of mainstream and corporate anti-cancer efforts. Cynical and borderline juvenile in its contrarianism. C+.