The Weak Arguments Behind #rethinkpink

No matter what supporters of the “Think Before You Pink” movement say, the pink ribbon is helping unify breast cancer patients.

BY BRADY REYNOLDS

Last year, SAGE Journals published an article with the modern title: #rethinkpink.

Author of the article, Gayle Sulik, expresses her anger towards representing breast cancer with the pink ribbon logo, as well as her personal experience with events like breast cancer fundraising walks. Her main source of disagreement with the idea of commercializing the pink ribbon as a logo for breast cancer, is that as much as people all over the world use it for breast cancer awareness, it is not actually helping breast cancer.

Sulik is not alone in this opinion, as many other scholars have fought for the “Think Before You Pink” movement. These scholars see the pink ribbon only as a simple logo for companies and events to use to promote breast cancer awareness without actually allowing for more research and funding towards the disease. Sulik states, “Breast cancer, the social cause, functioned like a brand name with a pink ribbon logo,” which cements her idea that breast cancer is becoming a commercialized story with little effort being placed in actually changing breast cancer funding.

But what Sulik and others following in this movement are not realizing, is that breast cancer, with its many fundraising events like walks and its use of the pink ribbon logo throughout the world, is bringing a sense of togetherness and unity to those fighting breast cancer when they most need it.

Events like a three day breast cancer walk to raise money and awareness, utilize the color pink to formulate a sense of unity amongst people affected by the disease, including patients, survivors, and families. A sense of unity in a time of extreme struggle can have a big impact on the patients struggling with their personal fights with cancer. Many advocates of the “Think Before You Pink” movement feel that the color pink takes away any individualism and only creates a common story among breast cancer patients. It is argued that the color pink is hiding each patient’s own story and making them all seem as if they are the same. However, that common story  allows for a temporary sense of togetherness that makes those fighting breast cancer feel as though they are not alone. Someone going through a fight with cancer in general should never have to feel alone.

The sense of togetherness that is created by the color pink used at events including these walks and runs allows for a higher financial impact on the disease and the research behind it. A big impact in the breast cancer awareness industry, The Susan G. Komen for the Care foundation, is a non-profit organization that is meant to bring awareness to breast cancer as well as help raise donations for the disease’s research. This organization has created walks and advertising events that truly help the disease and a significant part of this success is from the use of the pink ribbon, and the color pink as a whole. Not only do these events help raise money for the disease, but they help the patients and families fighting breast cancer know that others are suffering through the same thing, and they also bring all of these people together to feel as if they are a team (dressed in pink) out to beat breast cancer.

The color pink has been so incredibly successful, that other forms of cancer are creating similar logos to follow in its path. For example, a pancreatic cancer organization, Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, has created an event called the Purple Stride. This event is a typical 5k walk that uses the color purple as its main symbol for bringing everybody together. They have turned the pink ribbon purple and are doing so in order to achieve more donations and funding for research.

While these two very different forms of cancer use specifically colored ribbons as a marketing technique for funding, they are truly meant to unify the diseases and to create symbols that represent the forms of cancer. Gayle Sulik believes that this has taken away all sense of what breast cancer is and has turned it into something that “relies on imagery of pretty, happy, optimistic survivors who wear their survivorship with pride, elegance, sensuality, and the perfect blend of cosmetic enhancements.” Obviously these ideas are much easier to think about than the facts about breast cancer.  However, cancer in general is not a disease that is easy to handle for anybody, so the use of a color such as pink to unify the members involved is not meant to demean breast cancer and misrepresent it to be something “happy,” but to alleviate some of the pain from the disease and give hope.

There is something about arriving at an event like a breast cancer walk or the Purple Stride event, with everyone wearing the same colors that truly allows for a sense of togetherness and hope. Alexis Kelsey, the wife of Keith Kelsey who lost his life to pancreatic cancer, attends the Purple Stride event in Connecticut each summer. From an interview with her, she says “Seeing everybody in the color purple and holding up the purple ribbons that say ‘Wage Hope’, helps me realize that everyone here is in this together.” Clearly the use of a color to represent the type of cancer is making people feel unified. Even when the patient does not live to beat the cancer, their families need the sense of strength and togetherness that the colors allow for.

This is why the pink ribbon is important in representing breast cancer. While this one logo can seem to incorrectly capture what it is like to actually have breast cancer, it instead allows for a sense of unity in those involved in a fight against breast cancer. In reality, there is only one fight against breast cancer and in order for a cure to be found and for it to truly be beaten, people need to stand together and fight as a team. A team in pink.