I’m sure we’ve mentioned Think Before You Pink before. Well, I’m going to mention it again, because of the latest product they’ve rightfully decided to pillory: Fried Chicken for Breast Cancer!
Yep! You too can fight for breasts everywhere, simply by gobbling up a pink paper bucket full of friiiiiiiiiiiied food. For every bucket you buy, its purveyors will give a whopping 50 cents to support research.
What’s that you say? Mass consumption of fried food is actually not good for breasts, or the women who happen to be their bearers? (Lest we forget those poor unfortunates.)
Now I like fried food (although I don’t eat chicken). I think fried food is a pleasure and a delight. It is NOT, however, any kind of solution to breast cancer. And the chicken restaurant’s decision to “honor” those who have died of breast cancer by imprinting their names on those pink buckets? Contemptible. Repellent.
You’ll notice that I’ve refrained from mentioning the company’s name, and with reason. You know who they are, anyway. So let me ask you to do a few simple things.
1) Girlcott these shameless pinkwashers.
2) Donate 50 cents (or more) to breast cancer research or the cause of your choice without getting anything in return. You know, charity, not corporate whoring.
3) Write the offending company, or their partners, the Komen Foundation, and let them know how wrong-headed and wrong-hearted their benevolent alliance is. You can address them at their own websites, or use TBYP’s link here.
I am actually more angry now- after sending that letter. I received automatic e-mail replies from both Susan G. Komen as well as KFC almost immediately defending their partnership. They’re full of bullshitty fluff and I’d love to reply- except that I know my e-mails would just go to an empty inbox. UGH.
I saw the commercial last night, and was, I must say, a trifle confused. How does eating fried chicken — a health risk in its own right — equate to helping breast health?
I think one avenue that is overlooked for donations, is colleges/universities that are actively participating in the research, especially smaller institutions that get lost in the shuffle. I also think that another good place for donations is to scholarships for women that are entering science fields like biology and medicine. I’ve always thought that the best way to fight diseases was to make sure those who wanted to get into those areas of research had the means to get their education.
Good call, NN. Mega-sized foundations are neither the only, nor necessarily the best, options for your charitable dollars.
Short of smoking or abusing hard drugs, eating tons of fast food is pretty much the WORST thing you can do for your health. I like fried chicken as much as the next Southern girl, but to suggest that you’re doing something positive for breast cancer by eating bucketloads of it is—as Dork said—contemptible and repellent.
If the chain in question–which, btw, makes some dried out, shitty-tasting fried chicken—actually cared about breast cancer research, they could just write a check to Susan G. Komen, like so many other corporations do. Instead they used it as a pinkwashing opportunity to amp sales of their unhealthy product. Fuck them.
I just wanted to point out, also, that buying the bucket of chicken *doesn’t* actually donate 50 cents to the Komen anyway.. Fine print from their site: “Customer purchases of KFC buckets during the promotion will not directly increase total contribution”
So it is truly just a big ole pinkwashing for the good of their public image.
Katie…WHAT? WTF is the point then? Just when I thought it couldn’t get more offensive.
You know, there’s a lot to like about the Komen Foundation. I love the fact that 70 per cent of the total raised by our Race for the Cure stays in this region to pay for mammograms for underserved women, and that they support research, a lot of which is also going on here.
But…damn, they don’t have to take money from every company that’s trying to improve its image even though the products it sells are inimical to the health of women, men and children. Jeez. Stop the pinkwashing already!
I know! There is also a youtube video floating around of the colonel painting one of the franchises pink. Ugh. Have you read the essay on think before you pink about how the pink = breast cancer came to be? It’s an eye-opener.
Do you mean Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Welcome to Cancerland“? A great (troubling) read. If it’s something else, send us a link.
Nope I mean this one, History of the Pink Ribbon: http://thinkbeforeyoupink.org/?page_id=26 Not quite as troubling as Welcome to Cancerland but makes my blood boil anyway.
i really can’t think of anything else to say but ugh. Or, perhaps, Really?
@beckysharper not to get pedantic (and sorry to be somewhat off topic), and I know you know this, but alcohol is a bigger health risk than some hard drugs. even heavy marijuana use can damage your lungs. heroin is actually not that unhealthy (if you just snort it, and, of course, don’t od). Certainly not advocating heroin abuse, because it will certainly fuck up your life, just concerned about reinforcing the belief that it’s only “hard drugs” that can cause a problem. Sorry, the counselor in me had to say something.
@veggiewood. True dat. I stand corrected.