By Michael Kaufman

Twenty-plus years have passed since Charlotte Haley, a 68-year-old housewife in Simi Valley, California, launched a personal campaign to raise consciousness about breast cancer. Her maternal grandmother had died of metastatic breast cancer. Her sister had breast cancer and her daughter had also been diagnosed with the disease. Haley began distributing peach-colored ribbons attached to cards that read: “National Cancer Institute annual budget is $1.8 billion. Only 5 percent goes for cancer prevention. Help us to wake up our legislators and America by wearing this ribbon.”

Haley had no interest in starting a foundation or non-profit organization, notes Katherine O’Brien, magazine editor and blogger at ihatebreastcancer.wordpress.com. “If people offered her donations, she declined, instead urging them to emulate her work.” Haley, says O’Brien, was “strictly grassroots, handing the cards out at the local supermarket and writing prominent women, everyone from former First Ladies to Dear Abby. Her message spread by word of mouth.” Before long Haley had distributed thousands of her hand-made peach-colored loops and her campaign was drawing attention in the media.

Self magazine was in the midst of preparing its second “Breast Cancer Awareness Issue” when editor Alexandra Penney and guest editor Evelyn Lauder (senior corporate vice president of Estée Lauder cosmetics and a breast cancer survivor) called Haley to request use of her peach ribbon as a promotional tool. Haley, fearing commercialization of her concept, refused. Liz Smith, who had written favorably about Haley’s efforts earlier, wrote in her syndicated column in late 1992 that Estée Lauder was “having problems” trying to work with Haley. She also quoted Haley, who said Self had asked her to relinquish the concept of the ribbon.

Self and Estée Lauder consulted lawyers, who advised them to simply come up with a different color. Haley, interviewed in the recent documentary film Pink Ribbons, Inc. recalls how she was brusquely told the news: “They said “All we have to do if we want it is to change the ribbon.” Focus groups found pink “soothing,” “comforting” and “quieting,” and the pink ribbon was born. (Haley appears briefly in the trailer for the film, released by the National Film Board of Canada, which had a limited release earlier this year in the U.S.)
http://www.nfb.ca/film/pink_ribbons_inc/trailer/pink_ribbons_inc_trailer

“The corporate takeover of the pink ribbon has so narrowly focused popular attention on awareness that prevention continues to be overlooked,” notes Breast Cancer Action, a grassroots organization dedicated to Haley’s ideals. “Each year pink ribbon cause marketing generates hundreds of millions of dollars. In fact, the term ‘cancer industry’ is now frequently used by breast cancer activists and the media to describe corporations, organizations, and agencies that use pink ribbons to profit directly from breast cancer.

“Corporations profit hugely by linking their products to a pink ribbon— they profit financially, and they profit from the positive association of linking their company with a worthy cause. However, many of these companies, including cosmetic and car companies, are themselves contributing to causing breast cancer.

“Breast Cancer Action believes that instead of profiting from breast cancer, these corporations, if they want to make a difference, should be taking action to prevent women from getting sick in the first place. The pink ribbon will never get us as far as we need to go to end this epidemic, because pink ribbons are tightly bound up with corporate profits.” To learn more visit the Breast Cancer Action website at www.bcaction.org and as they suggest, “Think Before You Pink!”

Katherine O’Brien is one of the 150,000 U.S. women currently living with metastatic breast cancer. “I want people to know that incidence of stage IV breast cancer—the cancer that is lethal—has stayed the same over the past 20 years,” says O’Brien. “Screening and improved treatment has not changed this.

“I am not among the millions of people who subscribe to Self. If I were, I would rip out every page of breast cancer related advertising and return it to editor in chief Lucy Danziger and tell her I support groups that support research. I would ask her to write about people with metastatic breast cancer and help readers understand why it is different from early stage breast cancer. I would ask her to do an article on recurrence. I would ask her if she thinks we have enough awareness.

“I will return my pink ribbon in protest. That is the difference I will make.”

Michael can be reached at michael@zestoforange.com.