Every October, products from tweezers to toothpaste get packaged in pink.
They're all sold with the promise of promoting breast cancer awareness or benefiting breast cancer charities. Breast cancer has become the darling disease of corporate philanthropy - especially during national breast cancer awareness month.
But are the pink promotions more about boosting corporate profits via female-friendly marketing?
Although heart disease and lung cancer kill more women each year, experts say breast cancer is considered safer for companies to latch onto.
"The breast is associated with motherhood and nurturance and also sex. Those are things that hold a lot of appeal and are highly valued in our culture," says Samantha King, author of Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy.
Savvy marketing has boosted the breast cancer brand since the women's movement of the 1970s. Just as women were being encouraged to talk about their health issues, companies were looking for ways to profit from cause marketing.
Critics say that if companies are concerned with a cause, they could just donate money. But some breast cancer organizations say they welcome the parade of pink products.
"We love it. The more, the better," says Lisa Wolter, executive director of the Orange County, Calif., affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. "You see a pink-ribboned beach cruiser going down the boardwalk and you think, `There's somebody who cares about breast cancer and finding the cure.'"
According to Wolter, the Komen Foundation is careful about setting up financial relationships with corporate sponsors. "We make sure our logo is used only when there will be a meaningful donation from the product or service, and that the customer can clearly understand it from reading something on the product," she says.
Products include Playboy Beauty's $42 Gloss & Go pink lip gloss key chain with the Playmate Playboy bunny printed on top. Playboy doesn't disclose the sales percentage it promises to donate to the Komen Foundation.
Wolter said KitchenAid, Chevron, Serta and Quilted Northern Bath Tissue are companies that have year-round commitments to the foundation. They each have donated more than $1 million. In return, the companies get the business of millions of supporters.
Brand loyalty
"People who care about breast cancer - survivors, co-survivors - are all very brand-loyal when they know that a company is in the cause with them," Wolter says.
