This post was inspired by a recent discussion with some other green-minded people about greenwashing and pinkwashing in the personal care industry. Of course, both problems are found in virtually every industry these days, not just the personal care industry.
Many people have heard the term ‘greenwashing’ already. It’s when a company markets its product or service as greener than it really is in order to capitalize on the growing interest in green living, rather than make clear and honest marketing claims motivated by a genuine desire to contribute to the overall health of people and the planet above their desire for profit.
However, not as many have considered the problem of ‘pinkwashing’ yet. So, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I’d like to introduce you to the term. The best definition I’ve found is this: “pinkwashing: a term used to describe the activities of companies and groups that position themselves as leaders in the struggle to eradicate breast cancer while engaging in practices that may be contributing to rising rates of the disease.”
A desire for profit is not necessarily the problem here; everyone needs to make a living through profits of some sort. The problem lies in the ethical decisions and heart motivations behind the profit-making. And these issues can only be unearthed by asking questions. So, before you reach into your wallet to buy that next pink-packaged product to support the fight against breast cancer, you might want to do a little digging. The simplest place to start if it is a personal care item: look at its ingredient list.
Where I found the definition above: http://www.pinkwashing.org
For info on personal care ingredients, see Part 3 of my free report.
Lacey, you bring up great points here. I had never heard about the term ‘pinkwashing’, but I’m definitely familiar with the unethical practices that some corporations partake in to give off a false impression of care. Few things that come to mind: I just went to this networking event for the fashion/beauty industry, and a company there had a booth and was trying to sell super artificial personal care products (for hair and skin) with the sales pitch of “this is a purchase you can feel good about because a portion of the proceeds go to breast cancer awareness/research and we donate some of our stuff to women who have been affected by this terrible disease.” But I was thinking to myself: “these products you are selling and giving away to women who have cancer probably bring all sorts of cancers if they’re used regularly and for long periods of time!!” Of course, I didn’t say that (the person working at the booth is just an employee and doing her job, so I didn’t want to subject her to my rant, lol).
But seriously, it’s time something is said about these sly marketing strategies that are being disguised as benevolent, charitable actions. Not cool and not ethical.
Thanks for sharing this experience and insight, Heba. Such a perfect example of pinkwashing. You probably have many such experiences in the fashion/beauty industry, no? Though it does occur in other industries as well, pinkwashing certainly seems to be most prevalent there.
Update: Here are a couple additional resources…
http://thinkbeforeyoupink.org/?page_id=13
http://www.pinkribbonblues.org/