Breast Cancer Barbie, Benign Girl and Prostate Cancer Ken
Susan Metters has written several outstanding posts about breast cancer on her blog, Lemon Margaritas: Musings of a Cancer Survivor Extraordinaire. In Think Pink she writes,
“When I went to the Race For The Cure in Sacramento this past May, pink was the theme of the day. It was everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Not just pink shirts and pink signs. There were pink hats, pink shoes, pink streamers, pink water bottles, pink scarves. In the expo area there was every kind of merchandise imaginable and it was all pink. I swear to God, it looked like someone had vomited Pepto-Bismol all over the place.”
As Metters points out, of all the offensive stuff that is pink-washed, this may be the worst:
“The ultimate in nauseating breast cancer merchandise is Breast Cancer Barbie. She was on shelves last fall and I had forgotten about her, until someone on the Young Survivor’s Coalition (YSC) website brought it up again the other day. I think the picture speaks for itself:
I’m not sure what in the world Mattel was thinking. What’s with all the glamour? Is she supposed to be heading to a charity ball or something? Because clearly she doesn’t look like someone who currently has breast cancer. If she did, she would look more like this:
I am glad that all these companies want to raise awareness and are donating money to the cause, but at the same time it’s frustrating because they are clearly capitalizing on this crazy, ribbon-plastered, pink breast cancer machine. It’s sad when something like breast cancer has become so commercialized. Is the cause getting lost in the craze? I think to some degree it is. People think they are helping by buying things like Breast Cancer Barbie, but such a small percentage actually goes to breast cancer causes that they’d have been better off sending that $25 directly to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.”
“I know my Think Pink blog led some of you to believe that I have something against pink ribbons or breast cancer awareness but I really don’t. It’s just that the mass-commercialism associated with breast cancer is so prevalent that I can’t help but feel the whole awareness thing has been at least a little tainted.”
“So instead of joining the breast cancer bandwagon by telling you, “It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Breast Cancer Sucks! It affects a whole lot o’ women! Give lots o’ money!” I want to attempt to be part of the solution and take that next step. Let’s put some power in that pink!”
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