HAS PINK HAD ITS DAY? *Repost from the last 2 years due to popular demand* Breast cancer still is the most common female cancer worldwide, and the leading cause of death of women on a global scale. It’s also the most commercialised cancer, with more than $6billion raised annually in the US alone. Breasts sell. Period. Breasts are a commodity and are investable. Not just because they’re sexy, but because they have the added dimensions of femininity and motherhood. Breast cancer is a business. It has been for years. A business where profits and sponsors are more important than finding a cure or helping the patient. Supporting the pink cause is a cop out for the supporter; an easy way to show they care whilst validating their contribution to a worthwhile cause. Where does the money actually go? In America, there’s been and there still is backlash. The lack of transparency caused outrage when the money trail for allocated breast cancer research funds from the sale of pink products couldn’t be tracked. Patients with advanced (stage 4, metastatic or incurable) cancer spoke out at how the disease was being exploited in the name of profit. Health professionals and medical experts also doubted the ‘awareness’ label of these branded products, claiming that is all they do without educating the consumer or providing tangible results in research. We don’t need pink ribbons. We need to stop people dying. The message to organisations and charities needs to be loud, clear and consistent. Put your money where your mouth is and channel your expensive pink campaign efforts directly into research instead. The shocking truth is, that although there have been some advances in treatments, we are no closer to curing breast cancer than we were 20 years ago. The ‘pinkwashing’ distraction is wearing thin? Men get breast cancer too. Pink is outdated; a gross and unfair misrepresentation of the disease. There’s been too much pink wool pulled over our eyes. The pink tables are turning. @metupuk is the UK’s patient advocacy group and charity, and I stand with them calling for ‘action not just awareness’. • • #busylivingwithmets #metastaticbreastcancer #pinkwashingsucks #sbc #mbc