i.e. http://www.nbcam.org/
Honestly, I don't know why it annoys me so much. OH WAIT I DO.
Maybe it is because of the local hissy-fit over it every stinking year.
It starts with annoying melodramatic radio ads.
Then the TV ads with the pink people running relays for 3 days.
Then I go to the grocery store and not one, but TWO aisles are dedicated to "PINK!" "GO PINK!" -- pink water bottles, pink Mike Hard's lemonade (yes, alcohol), pink potato chips, pink t shirts, pink chicken marinades (!?!?!?!), --- AND THEY ONLY HAVE PINK SHOPPING BAGS!! PINK! Shopping!! BAGS!! No other bags to be found. In all of Haggens.
I drove by the local shopping center- the FORKLIFT was painted pink for breast cancer awareness.
I drove by the local Vietnamese dry cleaners - PINK ribbons on their dry cleaning hangers --
The celebrities are blabbing about it on every station and every little ceremony they make up for themselves even though they don't even know what they're talking about:
Oh i could go on, and ON, and ON! Pink everywhere! On yogurt! On brooms! On makeup! On alcohol! What the hell!!
LET ME REMIND YOU of the:
Top 10 Causes of Death for Women in the United States‡
The graph below shows how breast cancer compares to other common causes of death in women of all ages.
Top 10 causes of death for women in the United States.
The graph shows that the top 10 causes of death for women in the United States are—
1 Diseases of heart 329,238
2 Cerebrovascular diseases 86,993
3 Lung and bronchus cancer 69,078
4 Chronic lower respiratory disease 68,497
5 Alzheimer's disease 51,039
6 Accidents (unintentional injury) 41,426
7 Breast cancer 41,116
8 Diabetes mellitus 38,581
9 Influenza and pneumonia 34,949
10 Colorectal cancer 26,224
‡Source: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program (www.seer.cancer.govExternal Web Site Icon) SEER*Stat Database: Mortality – All COD, Public-Use with State, Total U.S. (1969–2005), National Cancer Institute, DCCPS, Surveillance Research Program, Cancer Statistics Branch, released February 2008. Underlying mortality data provided by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.
Wait... what's that? The top two killers of not only women, but men also, are cardiovascular? Really? How 'bout that. Huh. Really. WOW. Wait... breast cancer isn't even the top cancer? Really? Wow! How 'bout that. Huh. Wow. Really.
So great... the Komen people or whoever they are are getting this great research funding... and they don't know how to find the cause of breast cancer. Oh and they treat it like other cancers with barbaric medicine and chemo and radiation. Oh and it comes back so your breasts get cut off.
On the other hand, there is preventable, PREVENTABLE cardiovascular disease!! You just have to be aware and get screened! Look at those top 3 on the graph - QUIT SMOKING.... KNOW YOUR CHOLESTEROL.... AVOID type II diabetes... GET A STRESS TEST.... CONTROL YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE.... GET SCREENED FOR ATHEROSCLEROSIS WITH A SIMPLE ULTRASOUND.
Still have a clogged artery, can't fight the genetics? We have stents. and bypass. and so many many many things... and none of it involves cutting off body tissues.
I mean, serious Seattle, Washington, United States, North America.... you have a top killer, far more deadly and prevalant than breast cancer, cardiovascular disease which is also mostly preventable, and you want to frickin smoke and eat and drink your way to death. And buy your smokes and eats and drinks in F'in PINK SHOPPING BAGS.
THAT is what annoys me at the store, and on the radio, and on the TV. All these well-meaning people running around with out of control type II diabetes and high cholesterol with their pink t-shirts on just waiting for a huge myocardial infarction.
at least some people try to fight the breast cancer consumerism... but obviously without much success. And these are women who have fought the cancer themselves!
Now don't get me wrong. I know a lot of women who have fought breast cancer and some have lost the fight. It is horrific, and personal, and just awful. I also know a lot of people who have had other types of cancer. Prostate. Colon. Skin. Many family members have died slow painful deaths from cancer. Research and funding is so important... but raising "Awareness"... by using consumerism? Swiffer? Alcohol? Pink shopping bags?
Ridiculous.
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