Else Beekman
Today is International Day Against Breast Cancer. Many breast cancer patients in Spain are voicing their frustration over the overly positive tone of pink ribbon campaigns, accusing companies of trivialising the disease while profiting from it.
As Breast Cancer Awareness Month reaches its peak on October 19, patients argue that the messages surrounding the illness often downplay its seriousness and make it harder for them to navigate their reality.
The problem with pinkwashing
For Izaskun González, a member of associations Izan Iñurri and maiTETAbizi, the pink campaigns miss the mark. “Breast cancer isn’t pink, it’s a big brown mess,” she says. She was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer seven years ago and explains that these campaigns focus on the positive survival rates but ignore the harsh reality faced by those whose cancer returns with incurable metastasis. “People don’t understand how to treat us because the message they’ve received doesn’t reflect our reality,” she adds.
The pink campaigns, which began in the 1990s, have indeed raised awareness and contributed to a 42% reduction in mortality rates. However, González and other patients now feel it’s time for these campaigns to evolve. Instead of portraying the disease as a “pink celebration” where everyone gets cured, they want the public to understand that breast cancer is still deadly. In fact, 6,000 women aged between 35 and 55 die each year from metastatic breast cancer in Spain, a sobering statistic often glossed over in the pink narrative.
“The best cancer to have”
For many patients, the language around breast cancer is another source of discomfort. Phrases like “you’re a warrior” or “you’ll beat this” are common but can be hurtful. Izaskun: “People say things like ‘come on warrior, this is the best cancer that you could have had, the most studied!’ And with all these messages you think, ‘What nonsense you’re telling me!’, ‘What is the best cancer? I’ll give it to you.’ How can they tell me it’s the best cancer? If in the last year 17 colleagues have died, the youngest at 30 years old and the oldest at 50. We’re dying! You can’t tell me these messages, but why do they do it, because all these pink campaigns are what they sell you: a party in which people are cured and have no after-effects.”
Pilar Fernández Pascual, president of the Spanish Metastatic Breast Cancer Association, finds the war-like rhetoric insulting. “We are not losers for not surviving. Saying that implies that those who die didn’t fight hard enough, which is simply not true.”
Companies cashing in
Patients are also critical of companies that jump on the pink ribbon bandwagon. González calls it “shameful” how large corporations use the pink ribbon to appear supportive while offering little real help. She criticises companies that sell pink products at inflated prices and donate only a fraction of the proceeds to research, benefiting their profits more than cancer patients. Isazkun gives examples of campaigns she has seen, such as asking people to support the disease by buying a pink hairdryer or putting a bow in their hair: “Where do I put it? On my wig? Is this a joke or what are you up to?”
Click here for more information from the Spanish Association against Cancer if you want to help.