Pinkwasher: (pink’-wah-sher) noun. A company that purports to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon campaign, but manufactures products that are linked to the disease.
Illustration: Amy Firman
BCA uses the term “pinkwashers” to refer to companies that say they care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon campaign, but manufacture products that are contributing to the epidemic. Yoplait, for example, asks women to support the breast cancer cause by eating yogurt. But the yogurt is made with dairy from cows that have been treated with the artificial growth hormone rBGH. There are numerous health concerns surrounding the use of rBGH, and breast cancer is one of them.
Car companies that encourage consumers to buy and drive cars in the name of breast cancer are also pinkwashers, as car exhaust contains chemicals that are linked to the disease. And, cosmetics companies that make products with parabens, phthalates, or other ingredients linked to breast cancer are pinkwashing when they put the pink ribbon on their products.
This October, Think Before You Pink is urging pinkwashers to clean up their act. Join us by asking Yoplait to go rBGH-free.