It's that especially ironic time of the year--Breast Cancer Awareness Month--when you can help fight breast cancer by buying wine, steak dinners, and other pink-labeled products that may actually increase your risk of breast cancer. (In case you spend more time reading AdBusters than newspaper ads, it's the month when many businesses will donate a portion of these sales to breast cancer research.)
While I love the idea of a month devoted to raising awareness about a disease that has made my life so difficult, I don't like the fact that many companies seem to be using it to "pinkwash" themselves. And I hate the fact that so many of the funds are going to animal research rather than to prevention (for example, advocating for vegetarian diets, exercise, and a pollution-free world). Perhaps that's not surprising given that the month was invented by the drug industry...
If you want to donate money to help fight breast cancer, skip the pink M & Ms and choose one of the cruelty-free charities that carry the Humane Charity Seal of Approval; Avon is one of them.
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