Pinkwashing Turns on Itself with Breast Cancer Awareness Gun

by Anne Landman — November 3, 2009 - 2:54pm
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Smith & Wesson Breast Cancer Awareness PistolOctober was Breast Cancer Awareness month, and the group Breast Cancer Action seized on the opportunity to promote its Think Before you Pink campaign to raise awareness of how companies are increasingly exploiting breast cancer as a marketing device to sell products -- some of which are actually harmful to women's health. Pink ribbon campaigns are offering up some bizarre, albeit benign products like a breast cancer awareness toaster and a breast cancer awareness floating Beer Pong table. But the most bizarre item yet to have a pink ribbon slapped on it must be Smith & Wesson's Pink Breast Cancer Awareness 9 mm Pistol, promoted by a woman named Julie Goloski, Smith and Wesson's Consumer Program Manager and a sharpshooter herself. Goloski is promoting S&W's breast cancer awareness pistol on her Facebook page, saying "October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Breast Cancer Awareness M&P’s are shipping to dealers. I am thrilled to have my name associated with such a worthy cause and one of my favorite firearms." According to a 2008 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, firearms are the second most common cause of violent deaths of women, accounting for 29.2% of all violent deaths among females in the U.S. in 2008.

Main Source: 
GunBroker.com, November 3, 2009

Comments

Boy you are choosy

Submitted by Web (not verified) on November 6, 2009 - 7:26am.

Why would you take away the right of a good hearted business man who wants to do a good thing and support a great cause just because what he makes/ sells happens to be rat poison? I purchase rat poison to place around my warehouse in the winter and I would absolutely purchase a "Pinked" rat poison, to help a good cause. What do you consider bizarre about a legitimate business promoting breast cancer awareness and helping fund it prevention? Like somebody else pointed out earlier if the Breast Cancer Research people choose where they accept money from according to your sensibilities (and politics) they would be much worse off. Women of the world would be further from a cure, but you would be happy because it is better to not have a cure, the to have one funded by a legitimate business who product you deem "inappropriate". Just to clear something up AGAIN, guns dont kill, people do. A gun left to its own devices is not harmful. Breast cancer left alone does kill, but choosing to not accept money destined to help fight breast cancer only lets the disease kill more women.

Breast Cancer and Pink Gun

Submitted by Doc Carson (not verified) on November 5, 2009 - 9:55pm.

Ms. Landman,
Cancer Kills. Guns kill ONLY WHEN A HUMAN PULLS THE TRIGGER WHILE AIMING THE GUN AT A LIVING ORGANIZM. GUNS ARE INANIMATE OBJECTS, THE ONLY THING THEY CAN DO ON THEIR OWN IS RUST.

pink guns

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 29, 2010 - 8:05am.

While it is commendable for Julie to help support the breast cancer fight, I have to agree with Ms. Landman. There is a certain dissonance between the idea of healthcare and the idea of guns. I'm not saying that you all shouldn't have all the guns you want to shoot whatever needs shooting or to compensate for whatever needs compensating for. Just be careful, which, I know, most gun owner are. But I can see that you know you're not winning the argument because you've resorted to all-capital letters, a typical conservative ploy to shout and drown out dissent.

Comparing guns to

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on November 4, 2009 - 10:27am.

Comparing guns to cigarettes? So guns are bad then right? That means no police officer, law abiding citizen, competitor in shooting sports, sportsman or hunter, should be allowed to have them? No company that makes them should be able to market them? Is that because anyone that has a firearm or works for a gun company is evil? Unfortunately you have missed the point and are simply anti-gun.

Oh? What's that "tiny" percentage? You don't seem to want to fairly report how much the company has donated, supported events that raise awareness, etc. You seem ready to put other statistics that support your personal political views under the guise of non-partisan fairness. Now that's hogwash.

Begging to difer

Submitted by Lc Scoty (not verified) on November 4, 2009 - 9:43am.

1) Firearms are not a leading cause of death in women. There are between 10 and 15 thousand firearms deaths (not including suicides) every year in this country, with well over half the victims being male. There are many things that cause more than 7k women's deaths every year, leaving firearms way down the list.

2) There are approximately 2.5 million defensive gun uses in this country every year. If approximately half of those uses benefit women then clearly firearms represent a net benefit for womens well being.

3) Firearms are a tool, and like any other tool their goodness or badness depends entirely on the user. Drawing ana analogy to cigarettes is completely wrong because the use of cigarettes never benefits any who uses or is around those who use them, whereas millions of people in this country benefit from having or being with those who have firearms.