Female Beauty

Pink, pink and pink, well we are not talking about the unique singer “Pink”, but Pink is a symbol colour for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So, if Pink is your favourite color, October is your month, it’s no surprise if October has you seeing pink. It began in 1992, when Estee Lauder cosmetic counters first gave away loops of pink ribbon to raise awareness of the breast cancer disease. Since then, the pink ribbon has given way to myriad pink products, countless companies have created exclusive cosmetics, apparel and even food to celebrate October as Breast Cancer Awareness month. From Pioneer to Ford Motor, from compacts to cookies, many of these items come in pink or are festooned with a pink ribbon, and serve as reminders of the breast cancer disease. A percentage of sales of each item goes to breast cancer research or programs around the country. Corporations Love to Think Pink. Breast cancer patients and researchers can benefit from the funds raised. Consumers can engage in feel-good shopping. And, from a business standpoint, some companies even see a surge in sales or orders.

Breast cancer awareness was a focus for Evelyn Lauder, senior corporate vice president of the Este Lauder companies. She created the first pink ribbon in 1992, along with Alexandra Penney, who was then editor of Self magazine. Today, Lauder’s breast cancer awareness campaign “active in more than 40 countries” has distributed more than 60 million pink ribbons and information packets about breast cancer.

According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer will strike more than 200,000 in the United States this year, and will kill more than 40,000 women. That number includes 5,920 Georgia women, 1,140 of whom will die. Breast cancer is still the most common cancer among women and the second leading cause of cancer death for women, trailing lung cancer.

During October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, major corporations sell rose-colored goods to help raise awareness and funds for the breast cancer disease. Many of the products seem incongruous: pink poker sets, pink vacuum cleaners, pink candies, pink airplanes, even martini glasses (although some studies have shown that alcohol consumption can increase the risk of developing the disease).

But the broad range of corporations involved shows how successful the “color as brand symbol” strategy can be. It is questionable whether a traditional brand using the strategy would be as successful, but the number of companies willing to introduce a special pink edition of its widget in support of curing breast cancer is almost limitless. If breast cancer advocates had their way, everything would be pink.

The original Estee Lauder ribbons riffed on the grassroots, yellow-ribbon campaign to remember Americans who were taken hostage in Iran in 1979-80. It was a strategy repeated in a grassroots peach-colored ribbon campaign to increase breast cancer awareness in the 1980s. While there is no single owner of the pink ribbon symbol, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation owns the specific style of pink ribbon that appears on its logo, as does the Komen Foundation.

The Komen Foundation has been at the forefront of marketing efforts for more than 15 years, cause marketing manager Carrie Hodges said. The foundation celebrates its 25th anniversary next year. Founder and Peoria native Nancy Brinker lost her sister, Susan Goodman Komen, to breast cancer in 1980. Komen’s cause-marketing department has a staff of about 15 people, and the efforts of selling specialized items like Ford-sponsored scarves and Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks bring about $30 million into the foundation each year. They’ve had partnerships with companies like New Balance and Pier 1 Imports for 15 years. The organization expects to see more funds raised this year, says spokesperson Emily Callahan. This is largely because there’s a 30% increase of pink products from last year. “In 2005, we worked with 100 products,” Callahan says. “This year there are 130.”

This season, there’s a pink external 6G hard drive from Seagate that will benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.  And Campbell Soup has produced special-edition cans of condensed tomato and chicken noodle soups, trading in its iconic red-and-white label for pink-and-white this October. As a marketing strategy, thinking pink allows companies to recast themselves as socially responsible corporations dedicated to women’s health (and female consumers), or simply to increase brand awareness with mentions in media roundups of fund-raising products during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

And the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which owns its version of the pink-ribbon logo, also has hit a new record number (80) in the number of pink-themed benefit products the organization has cross-promoted since it was founded 13 years ago by Evelyn Lauder, wife of Leonard A. Lauder, chairman of Estee Lauder. Since 1993, BCRF has granted $144 million to cancer research, raised from sales of these products alone. Delta Airlines is flying a pink plane to raise awareness for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and is selling pink lemonade to raise money for the organization on domestic flights. “There’s a public perception that everything is pink now, and that we’ll take anything. But we don’t accept every product,” says Erin Medley, assistant manager for marketing at BCRF. “We’re interested in companies that have a dedication to the disease.”

Other nonprofits have jumped on the pink bandwagon. Ralph Lauren, for instance, launched its Pink Pony line of clothing (marked by a distinctive pink polo player) and accessories in 2000, and directs 10 percent of sales to its Pink Pony Fund. In 2003 the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care & Prevention opened in New York’s Harlem neighborhood, largely supported by the Fund. The clothes are available throughout the year and aren’t limited to Breast Cancer Awareness Month—indicating that the company has a long-term commitment to fighting the disease.

Despite the feel-good nature of pink-product sales, the phenomenon also has its critics. Some believe the proliferation of pink products is diluting the impact of breast-cancer awareness campaigns, potentially turning customers off from buying yet another pastel appliance in October. “The idea of pink products growing in number is truly phenomenal. But think of Gucci extending its brand to the point that everyone had Gucci key chains. Gucci then lost cachet and meaning,” says Martyn Tipping of Tipping Sprung. “The brand lost its core. This pink branding phenomenon could be overextended.”

What can’t be argued with is the potential of color as a brand strategy. UPS has made the blah color brown its own. IBM is often associated with its nickname, Big Blue, in reference to its logo. And the Lance Armstrong Foundation is quickly making yellow, used in the organization’s trendy Live Strong bracelets, a symbol for testicular cancer. While pink is now breast cancer’s symbolic hue, the key for foundations and corporate benefactors alike will be to maintain public interest in and awareness of the disease long after Breast Cancer Awareness Month ends
Wear a pink ribbon, tell everyone you care about to get a mammogram and practice breast self-examination. And make a donation to help fund breast cancer research.

General merchandise and specific products at the Komen Marketplace, www.komen.org, or the American Cancer Society Gift Shop at www.cancer.org.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 13th, 2006 at 1:25 am and is filed under Health, Lifestyle, Women Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.