Marketing the Pink Ribbon - A Study in Selling 'Awareness' [View all]

[MineralMan]

I just came back from spending about an hour clicking links on a Google search for Pink Ribbon Merchandise. What I discovered was pretty interesting. Over a million hits, but it's the first few pages that the ones I'm talking about appear. It seems like Pink Ribbon stuff is a growth industry. There are dozens upon dozens of sites selling all sorts of "Pink Ribbon Merchandise." Most of it is made in China, of course, and you can even find the manufacturers if you want to get into the business on a grand scale.

But, here's the funny thing: Very, very few of the sites make any claim that they donate any percentage at all of their sales to anyone. Some mention that they like to donate to the cause of breast cancer, but never say anything about to whom or how large those donations might be. They're selling "awareness" to their many customers. Just awareness. Almost none of the sites mention the Susan G. Komen organization. In fact, most of them mention no charitable organizations at all. It looks to me like most of them are interested only in the "Green Money" from "Pink Ribbons."

It's a big business, this "Pink Ribbon Awareness" business. But, from my hour of research, it appears as though the only people benefiting from it are the sellers of this flood of "Pink Ribbon" merchandise.

Caveat Emptor!