Possibly the worst example of "pink nausea" and breast cancer exploitation ever

As I said to cancer pals on Twitter earlier today, if my loved ones arrange a funeral for me where everyone is dressed like this, I swear unto you that I will come back from the dead and stab everyone in the face. (via @regrounding)

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

MORE: breast cancer • cancer

More at Boing Boing

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

Hackers prepare for first "national holiday" in their honor

http://twitter.com/yatima Yatima

Ill-fitting polyester blazers speak so eloquently of one’s feelings for the deceased.
- http://www.xeni.net/ Xeni Jardin
  
  ^^^ wins thread
  - Boundegar
    
    Is it okay if the men wear the pink? Because I think it takes a he-man to wear that pink.
- John Maple
  
  Well, at least they did not adopt an embroidered logo on the blazer.
http://twitter.com/MrWeeble James Hardy

What worries me, is if this is in any way successful, other diseases will become colour coded. Undertakers will be full of a rainbow of jackets. Bloody stupid idea
- http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy
  
  Not for a jacket sales firm
PlutoniumX

Without reading the caption, looks like a Pepto Bismol brand board meeting slash rip roaring party.
theophrastvs

Is this color-jingoism still rooted in Komen and thus planned parenthood defunding and other cryptoconservatism? or is this just a misguided tacky effort at sympathy? (not that those two are necessarily mutually exclusive) that is, these folks (particularly the guy on the far left (ironically)) look like … well, they might like their bread blindingly white.
- C W
  
  “or is this just a misguided tacky effort at sympathy?”
  
  It’s not Komen-affiliated, but it is certainly crass marketing masquerading as “sympathy”.
- sgtdoom
  
  And please never forget, the neocons at Komen copied the woman who founded M.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) who increased her salary dramatically every few years, until she could no longer increase, hence the founder of MADD moved on to be a senior lobbyists for the Liquor Retail Association (or whatever it’s present name is).
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Citation or GTFO.
    - http://instantaneousinstances.com/ Spieguh
      
      I’ll be damned.
      http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19940115&slug=1889810
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        Well, she already is.
      - sgtdoom
        
        Thanx — I was just about to reply that AsM should do a little bit of reading. . . .for a change!
  - ocker3
    
    Another reason for that ill-informed tweeter to not move to Australia, our BAC limit is 0.05!
oasisob1

Unicorn chaser please? w/e, I’m going back to watching Kim Boekbinder on youtube.

I’m sorry. This pink thing is just horrible.
giantasterisk

“Century21 announces new “women’s real estate” division, offers Barbie McMansions.”
pupdog

My most recent encounter with oddball “pink” branding – stopped in a local Mexican restaurant for lunch with my mother a few weeks ago. Basket of chips arrives – we then try and figure out a)why some of the chips are a different color, and b)what color that is. Finally settle on some of them being ‘oranged up’ for Halloween. Nope. “Pink” chips, with some unnamed portion of the proceeds from chip-based appetizers going to ‘the cause’.
- http://twitter.com/dantobias dantobias
  
  The lighting in restaurants tends to make distinguishing colors fairly iffy.
  - pupdog
    
    Not to mention there’s no good way to make yellow corn chips pink. The best that could be said for them was they were NOT natural colors…
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      Beet juice.
      - Halloween_Jack
        
        Say it two more times!
PhosPhorious

I think this is entirely appropriate for a funeral. It reminds us all. . . there are things worse than death.
SamSam

Wait… as far as I can tell, not a single penny spent buying these jackets will go to the hands of cancer research. Is that right?

That’s so much worse than even those awful “1 penny of the cost of this $45 pink t-shirt you bought will go to cancer research” sales that high-end boutiques do.

At that point, why not just start only buying pink toys, pink cameras, pink iPods, etc, you know… for cancer.
- http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy
  
  From cursory examination there is only an undefined pledge of $25,000.00 based on sales of the jackets.
  
  That pledge is made to an association committed to furthering the funerary industry and has no affiliations with cancer research etc.
http://twitter.com/robotrousers Ian Schuelke

Like it’s not bad enough, they go with a wool/poly blend?!
- elusis
  
  So it can be itchy and pill horribly!
http://profile.yahoo.com/JBXEO3K7W7HVG4D75CFCBIVKOY Bruce Diamond

From their website: “As we join in the fight for cancer, our company is committed to donate up to 12% of the proceeds of each blazer to Funeral Service Foundation and the American Cancer Society.” Well, gee whillikers, I feel better already…
- theophrastvs
  
  aha “donate up to 12%”, which includes 0.003% but not even 12.0071% the pink is entirely in the prepositions.
http://twitter.com/CatherineOmega Catherine Winters

Actually, I think that’s almost my ideal funeral, where all my friends and family are running in terror from my shambling, reanimated corpse.
Richard Lord

When my Mom died My Dad and I and the grandsons wore pink ties. That was it. My mother belonging to a church that marches and speaks for social justice, there were pink ties Rainbow ribbons,etc etc everywhere, Blazers that would only be worn, hopefully only once, produced with materials,possibly carcinogens that seeped into her blood to destroy her breasts and kill her , destroy the planet that belongs to her Grandchildren would have made her pray very hard to let it go and forgive. . Waste Waste waste.
Rickenbacker4001

Every time I see something pink for cancer, it reminds me when I was applying graphics for vehicles. A tough hombre walked in and wanted his pink cement mixer truck emblazoned with ,”We support breast Cancer”. I asked him, “Don’t you mean, We support breast cancer research or something”? No, he wanted what the other drives were doing and for us to put,”We support breast cancer”
I pleaded with him and my dim boss that the wording was wrong and offensive.” Nope, that is correct wording”
2 weeks later the truck came back with graffiti on it by some tagger that corrected the sentence. (gotta love polite graffiti artists up here in Canada).
signsofrain

Yes, this is a little tacky, and yes, the pink thing is overdone, but let’s keep the “we’re too cool for this” in check okay? This isn’t hurting anyone and it raises money for cancer research. It’s an option, you can take it or leave it, and if it actually provided some comfort to a grieving family that their loved one’s battle with cancer was acknowledged in this way… who are we to say it sucks and is lame?

Edit: To all who have replied with their criticisms of the scause industry, the sexist ‘women’s disease’ thing etc… I take all your points, and thanks for bringing them up ’cause it has made me want to look into how to best support cancer patients (my mother is still recovering from colorectal cancer treatment – so cancer research matters to me) Buying pink stuff might be one of the worst ways to contribute to cancer research… granted. I still say any money, in any amount, that goes to the cause is good, crass commercialism or no. I also still say that if a grieving family chose this method of honouring their loved one, all of you criticizing me had better be prepared to criticize them too, right to their tear-soaked faces.
- http://profiles.google.com/joshuabardwell Joshua Bardwell
  
  Well, I would say that as an actual person with breast cancer, Xeni is uniquely qualified to say it sucks and is lame.
  - signsofrain
    
    Okay, let’s find a grieving family who had their funerary staff wear pink blazers, and you can go over to their house and tell them that what they did to honour their loved one sucks and is lame.
    - http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy
      
      I would agree to do that if you promise to stop kicking dogs and stabbing children.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      Is there some particular reason that you’re trolling this thread?
    - Halloween_Jack
      
      You really think that you can’t make a criticism of this particular practice without being an asshole? That’s sad.
- http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy
  
  There is a slight tinge of “to cool for this” but it is barely tangible. Instead when I see these things I take issue anew with the cause industry that generates this sort of galling tripe.
  
  You demand in bold that it raises money for cancer research, but does it? It is certainly questionable and many similar efforts have been found to be “raising” money for at a rate of less than a penny on the -net- dollar. The fact is that when it is the prop for business promotion, research often gets none or so little as to be laughable, and then that amount is washed through the agency that receives it, diluting it further, often to nothing.
  
  And does that then hurt no one?
  
  Here’s a challenge to demonstrate:
  
  https://www.wearthepink.com
  
  Now find how much and where it goes.
  
  Note the post above, that highlighted that “up to 12% of the proceeds” goes to 2 different agencies, only one of which was smart enough to require a pledge as part of being named beneficiary of their fundraising (smart move these days, though pledges are often non-binding or un-enforcable).
  
  The one agency that may be guaranteed to receive “up to” 12% of a possible loss? Not a cancer agency.
  http://www.funeralservicefoundation.org/
  
  I am here to say it sucks and is lame because it is largely a false promise of an empty gesture, and even the suckers it comforts deserve better, let alone people suffering or actually working to better lives before profit.
  - http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy
    
    Ugh, a true circle of giving.
    
    The charitable agency with a $25,000.00 “pledge” guaranteeing them the amount the company wishes to donate to cancer research from sales of the jackets makes the lion’s share of it’s grants directly to or to efforts affiliated with the NFDA.
    
    The NFDA is teh professional association of funeral directors/business owners. And is one of the largest contributors to the FSF charity in question.
    
    The NFDA produces the annual trade show for this industry.
    
    Which is where the jacket was introduced to the industry by the funerary apparel supplier that created the campaign.
    
    The pledge would require that it be met from those “proceeds” whatever they are, before any other consideration. So if there is nothing left for the American Cancer Society ( a pox itself) then their poor hands are tied and all the “donated” money goes to the people that promote the interests of the people who “donated” it.
    
    A cost-effective, revenue neutral promotional campaign using the Breast Cancer Banner. It was never anything else.
- That_Anonymous_Coward
  
  “raises money for cancer research”
  “As we join in the fight for cancer, our company is committed to donate up to 12% of the proceeds of each blazer to Funeral Service Foundation and the American Cancer Society.”
  http://boingboing.net/2012/11/19/possibly-the-worst-example-of.html#comment-713978914
  This is hurting everyone by making them think you need to buy something pink to show you care.
  To accept the idea of “up to” as helping, notice which group got top billing for the up to 12% help.
  To accept pouring money into “awareness” charities where people win prizes that the income for the event don’t always cover.
  That to buy something with a pink ribbon slapped onto it makes you a better person, because you care more.
  Wearing pink is not comforting a grieving family, it is a shallow expression that allows us to feel we did “something” to help or that we “care” more.
  It is now a marketing gimmick, and should be looked upon as such.
- perchecreek
  
  In order to not belabor the obvious, I’ll be brief: sexism, here in the form of the “feminization” of a disease with pink, is hurting quite a few someones. The bloated salaries of American Cancer Society executives is a cancer of the “giant vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity” variety. Please do not give them money. Finally, this sort of needless consumption, in the environmental pollution it produces, is a likely cause of cancer.
  
  You open with an ad hominem attack “let’s keep the ‘we’re too cool…’ “, and in a subsequent comment you continue with an appeal to emotion, “…and you can go over and tell them…”. It would help if you would address arguments on their merits.
- http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy
  
  “I also still say that if a grieving family chose this method of honouring their loved one, all of you criticizing me had better be prepared to criticize them too, right to their tear-soaked faces.”
  
  You stand by your missive of logic fail. Good for you.
  
  I’d guess you are unaware that the charitable portion of this episode does not include the bereaved?
  
  That is putting aside the straw-based foundation of your statement vis a vis criticism justified.
  
  Pink products have the potential to be draining charitable dollars btw. Many instances of no money donated are regularly identified, like this one probably is.
  
  Yet the consumer has acknowledged that they often feel they have done their share by buying such products, and need give or volunteer no further.
  
  Yeah but if… 35 cents, or maybe even 45 cents, reaches a research project, I’m sure it’s all good.
- Halloween_Jack
  
  1) Affirm with them that it’s good that they want to pay tribute to their late loved one.
  
  2) Suggest that another way besides the above may be the better one.
  
  Was that so hard?
That_Anonymous_Coward

Is that a beer can in the right hand of the guy in the first picture?
Because then we could just blame this whole disgusting idea on the fact they were really drunk.
- http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy
  
  Looks like a large cellphone. Good on him for not chucking out his perfectly good Nokia 2110.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Amorette-Allison/1163340223 Amorette Allison

I got a call from the radiology department on Friday that they want “new films” taken after my mammography in October. I do that next Tuesday, thus spending the Thanksgiving holiday wondering if I have breast cancer. If I do have breast cancer, then I start worrying about how to pay for it. A bunch of folks in ugly pink blazers in no way helps my state of mind. They may feel as if they are doing something but they aren’t. Not really
- DisGuest
  
  I hope you can enjoy your holiday and also some good news afterward. I’m not sure that will make you feel better, but it was sincere. Also, I hate the “branding” of disease.
- Richard Lord
  
  My mother was first diagnosed in 1986, she lived a long time in remission. she made the most of her life,When she died the people she helped or touched in her life stretched twice around the block literally. I shook a line of hands for 4 hours in my pink tie. I know if the Doctors had the knowledge then, what they know now, it would not have come back in 2010, she celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary, She kissed 11 grand-kids When it came back she made it clear that NO one gets off this planet alive. Live in today, don’t let a imaginary future destroy what you have today. It IS all in your head. You do not have cancer today. They will be very very good at getting sickness out of other peoples bodies next week, Today you do not have cancer.
- Origami_Isopod
  
  I don’t know your circumstances, but sometimes they have to do an ultrasound in addition to the mammogram if your breast tissue is structured so that the mammogram can’t distinguish healthy tissue from unhealthy. Best of luck…
zefuture

So a loved one died and the most important thing you can remember about their life or your relationship with them is cancer, and the best way you know of expressing that is nauseating pink campaigns.
chenille

No, someone put a red sock in the same load as the whites! All the jackets are ruined! They…ok, maybe there’s a way to take advantage of this mistake.
- ChicagoD
  
  I mean, the eggs are already broken. Do you want an omelette or not?
len_c

if stabbing them in the face is too extreme, you could always come back and punch them with these (no joke) breast cancer awareness boxing gloves.

http://www.insidehboboxing.com/inside/2012/11/17/broner-makes-the-defining-statement-of-his-career-so-far.html
anansi133

I will come back from the dead and stab everyone in the face.

I would *totally* go see that zombie movie!
Halloween_Jack

The main subject of the post aside, let me just say that Vengeful Zombie Xeni actually sounds kind of cool. (Although may you live to be a healthy 100, of course!)
pjcamp

No. No. No.

No, blue definitely does not go with pink.

Then again, neither does anything else. Carry on.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=26109648 Jim Davison

Xeni, If you come back from the dead and stab people rather than eating their brains & starting the zombie apocalypse, then I will be very disappointed.