Companies are Pinkwashing their responsibilities when it comes to cancer causes

While I am pretty sure we all have an idea of what the term greenwashing means but just in case – it means companies making unsubstantiated claims about their going green efforts.

Now it seems we are getting a change of color as the term pinkwashing is starting to make the rounds and I am pretty sure this term is a lot less well known, even I had to double check, but it is the term used to describe companies that are touting how much their are behind the fight against breast cancer but neglect to inform people about their use of chemicals that cause breast cancer in the first place.

As a recent article at Environmental Justice writes

Breast cancer is useful for corporate cause marketing campaigns because it is a disease that many people are intimately familiar with and it is associated with beloved family members and friends. Breast cancer as a marketing tool has few (if any) risks of alienating potential consumers, unlike HIV/AIDS, poverty, obesity, or other “uncomfortable” epidemics. In addition, women control somewhere between $0.70 and $0.85 of every household dollar spent, so marketing in relation to women’s health is a logical business move. However, many corporations that engage in breast cancer cause marketing actually exacerbate the problem by contributing to environmental causes of the disease—they use chemicals linked to cancer and hormone disruption in the manufacture of their products.

The article points to a recent campaign by Avon as a good example of how this pinkwashing is being done by corporations looking to shine up their social image even as they help create the problem

One of the most poignant instances of pinkwashing is the cosmetics giant Avon. The company launched the “Kiss Goodbye to Breast Cancer” campaign in 2001 with a fundraising lipstick in six shades (Courageous Spirit, Crusade Pink, Faithful Heart, Inspirational Life, Strength, and Triumph). Those lipsticks may have contained ingredients that disrupt hormone functions (which is in turn linked to breast cancer). The use of hormone disruptors is not uncommon in the cosmetics industry, and is not currently prohibited by U.S. law.Avon is one of the most recognizable corporate entities participating in the breast cancer awareness industry and according to the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition (MBCC), more than 250 of Avon’s products listed in a database assessing the health risks of cosmetic products are listed in the “highest concern” category due to the presence of hormone disruptors, neurotoxins, and possible carcinogens. Avon and many other companies fall back on the claim that “it’s just a little bit” of carcinogen or hormone disruptor in a given product, despite the fact that we are all exposed to more than one product and to thousands of chemicals daily, and that low doses of these chemicals are very concerning.

Why does none of this surprise me in the least.