Store shelves are filling up with pink products tied to October's Breast Cancer Awareness month, but shoppers need to do their homework to be sure their green is really going to the right cause.
There is a seemingly endless variety of pink products, from M&Ms and Tic Tacs to a KitchenAid mixer or a Dyson vacuum cleaner.
But buyers need to look beyond the pink to be sure a product supports a legitimate breast-cancer group. Anybody can use the pink-ribbon logo, so it's important to read tags, boxes and fine print to find out what group is being supported and how much it gets from your purchase.
Such marketing has raised the ire of some groups urging consumers to question how much the companies actually donate and to which institutions. Critics of the pervasive pink marketing, such as thinkbefore youpink.org, recommend consumers read tags and packaging to determine what percentage of the sales go to legitimate cancer research and treatment and prevention causes.
The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the pre-eminent awareness and research group, backs the pink product efforts. Komen's partnerships with more than 100 companies generated $35 million of its $200 million in revenue last year. But it began requiring partners to be more transparent in how much they give.
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation has partnered with companies like Woodridge-based Trudeau Corp., maker of kitchenware and tabletop goods. This year Trudeau offers products such as travel mugs, fondue sets and carafes tied into breast cancer awareness. It donates up to 5 percent of the sale of its drinking items and $1 from the sale of each fondue set to the research foundation.
Northfield-based Kraft Foods this year provided products, including its Crystal Light on the Go and Balance Bars, for the 2006 Chicago Race for the Cure, to benefit the Komen foundation.
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, an Estee Lauder offshoot, also gets support from the Chicago-hosted International Home and Housewares Show.
Wall Street Journal, with Business Reporter Cheryl V. Jackson contributing
