Benefiting

I tend not to buy "Pink" products.  

No, I don't hate women who've had breast cancer.  


Yes, I'm aware of the statistics and realize it could be me someday. 

Yes, I want to see a cure.  

But do I think the concept of buying something in the grocery store to aid a cause is a bit disingenuous?  

Yes.  Yes I do.  

And don't try to equate The Pink Ribbon campaign, which you can't deny is close to the saturation point, with Suzi Smith from the local elementary school knocking on my door and selling me overpriced wrapping paper or candy because it's the not the same thing.  

Well, OK. Essentially it is.  But I'm not going to deny some cute kid the opportunity to peddle raise money for the The Man her education.  Besides, local school systems around the country have slowly been gutted over the years, teachers are under attack and I'm a huge supporter of public education. 

But I'm going to go out on a limb and say Bic isn't hurting. These marketing techniques, called "cause-related marketing", are wildly beneficial to the bottom lines of companies who throw a pink ribbon on their packaging.  There is no true philanthropy, right? I would call it schadenfreude if I was a cynic.  

(*cough*)

To be fair, Bic's money (which is to say, YOUR money if you chose to buy the product) is going here,  the gold standard for donating money for breast cancer research.  Of course, you could just give them money directly and cut out the middle man, yes?  ->