Lisa at Sociological Images has a series of photos, such as the one just above, and this one depicting Breast Cancer Awareness Cat Food:
The post poses some questions about this that can largely be summed up as WTF? (though her approach is a tad more scholarly). The answer in my view is that the giant and extremely powerful Susan G. Komen For the Cure Foundation managed to thoroughly and effectively monetize breast cancer in a way that another disease awareness program is unlikely to be able to replicate. The Komen foundation pioneered a lot of the techniques it uses to extract money from consumers, without any real competition, and it is unlikely to cede turf to competitors voluntarily.
Read the transcript of a talk given by Barbara Ehrenreich about the Cancer Industrial Complex (“We don’t need more”awareness”of breast cancer:we’re VERY aware, thank you very much. We need treatments that work, and above all, we need to know the cause of this killer, so we can stop it before it attacks another generation”) and read her article”Welcome to Cancerland: A Mammogram Leads to a Cult of Pink Kitsch.”She says important things. Also visit thinkbeforeyoupink, a subsidiary of Breast Cancer Action, if you want to know more.
Oh, and see also at Savage Death Island.
–Ann Bartow
