by Katri Marson

Created on: January 17, 2009   Last Updated: May 22, 2010

One of the great things about the world we live in today, is we get so many options to choose from when we shop. In fact we have so many choices, that companies look for any possible way to make their product stand out among the rest and to make you choose them over all the other similar products.

Pinkwashing is when a company claims to care about breast cancer by promoting the Pink Ribbon Campaign, but the company's products are actually linked to the disease. It makes sense that someone would choose a company that advertises it will donate proceeds to a great organization, over another company with a similar product, who does not. It can make you feel good knowing you chose a company who cares. In fact, it is a really good marketing campaign. Sadly, for many companies, that is all it is, a marketing campaign to boost their profits.

Yoplait has recently launched a big campaign, commercials, advertisements, it's hard not to know about it. The campaign, Save Lids to Save Lives, urges consumers to buy their brand of yogurt with the pink lid. They will donate ten cents for every pink lid sent back by the end of the year to the Susan G. Koman foundation, up to the amount of $1.5 million.

The concern is that the milk Yoplait uses to make their yogurt comes from cows that are injected with rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone.) rBGH, a genetically engineered form of a natural hormone, has been linked to many health concerns, including breast cancer. The request for them to go rBGH-free is not an impossible one, since Wal-Mart and Starbucks have already gone rBGH-free and it is already banned in the European Union, Canada, Australia, and Japan. Yoplait's continued use of this drug is contradicting their campaign.

Estee Lauder has a Pink Ribbon collection of cosmetics. They plan to donate up to $500,000 from the sales proceeds to Breast Cancer Research. Many of their products contain parabens and phthalates, ingredients which have been linked to cancer and found in breast tumor biopsy samples. But they refuse to sign the Compact for Safe Cosmetics which guarantees their products do not contain chemicals that are known or strongly suspected of contributing to breast cancer.

Many other companies, such as Revlon, Mary Kay and Avon, have strong breast cancer support campaigns, but continue to sell products with carcinogenic ingredients in them. Ford, Mercedes and BMW have ran Pink Ribbon campaigns that raise money by urging consumers to purchase cars, yet car exhaust

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