Health

Pinkwashing: Can Shopping Cure Breast Cancer?

by Anne Landman — June 11, 2008 - 3:50pm
  • Topics: Advertising, Corporate Campaigns, Activism, Cause-Related Marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Health, Women

    • You've heard the term "greenwashing." It refers to corporations that try to appear "green" without reducing their negative impact on the environment.

    Since 2002, the group Breast Cancer Action has promoted its "Think Before You Pink" campaign. It's fighting "pinkwashing," which is when corporations try to boost sales by associating their products with the fight against breast cancer. Pinkwashing is a form of slacktivism -- a campaign that makes people feel like they're helping solve a problem, while they're actually doing more to boost corporate profits. Pinkwashing has been around for a while, but is now reaching almost unbelievable levels.

    Mixed Reports on FDA Efficacy

    by Judith Siers-Poisson — June 11, 2008 - 2:24pm

    The number of warning letters sent by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to corporations has dropped by 50% in the last decade. In 2002, the regulatory agency decided that all warning letters should go through the office of its chief counsel, a move "designed to strengthen the letters and make them legally consistent and credible." But the change may have just succeeded in slowing the process to a crawl.

    Main Source: 
    Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), June 7, 2008

    Most Med Schools Not Making the Grade

    by Judith Siers-Poisson — June 8, 2008 - 8:31pm

    The American Medical Students' Association (AMSA) graded 150 medical schools on their conflict-of-interest policies and the influence that drug companies have with faculty and students. Only seven of the schools surveyed received an "A"; 60 got a failing grade, for not having sufficient policies or for not participating in the survey. AMSA president Dr. Brian Hurley called strong conflict-of-interest policies "incredibly important to protect the educational experience." Dr.

    Main Source: 
    New York Times, June 3, 2008

    More Than You Bargained for in Your Chicken

    by Judith Siers-Poisson — June 8, 2008 - 8:11pm

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture has found that Tyson Foods routinely gave antibiotics to chicken it raised to sell as meat, and labeled it as antibiotic free.

    Main Source: 
    MSNBC.com, June 3, 2008

    Shifting Focus, Anti-Abortion Groups Oppose Contraception

    by Anne Landman — June 6, 2008 - 5:05pm

    On June 7, the anti-abortion groups American Life League (ALL) and Pharmacists for Life launched a new national campaign called "Protest the Pill Day 08: The Pill Kills Babies." Their goal is to convince American women to stop using oral contraceptives, which they believe kill people.

    Main Source: 
    The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin), June 6, 2008

    Corporate-Sponsored "Slacktivism": Bigger and More Dangerous than the Urban Dictionary Realizes

    by Anne Landman — June 2, 2008 - 2:10pm
  • Topics: Corporate Campaigns, Cause-Related Marketing, Front Groups, Corporations, Education, Environment, Ethics, Health, Propaganda, Public Relations, Women

    • Recently while browsing the Web I came across UrbanDictionary.com, which is sort of a wiki of contemporary slang. I found some of the newer words listed there amusing, like "hobosexual" (the opposite of metrosexual; someone who cares little about their looks), "consumerican," ("a particularly American brand of consumerism"), and "wikidemia" ("an academic work passed off as scholarly yet researched entirely on Wikipedia").

    Citing Menthol Exemption, Black Group Pulls Support for FDA Tobacco Bill

    by Anne Landman — May 30, 2008 - 4:25pm

    The National African American Tobacco Prevention Network (NAATPN) has withdrawn its support for a bill allowing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products.

    Main Source: 
    New York Times, May 30, 2008

    Thanks to Chantix, Quitting Smoking May Be Hazardous, Too

    by Diane Farsetta — May 29, 2008 - 9:51am

    The pharmaceutical company Pfizer "is preparing an advertising and public-relations campaign to counter concerns about its antismoking drug Chantix, once trumpeted as a potential billion-dollar-a-year blockbuster." So far, Pfizer has "run ads in five major newspapers in which its medical director explains Chantix's risk-benefit balance." The drug company will soon "start hosting round

    Main Source: 
    Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), May 29, 2008

    Marketing with Meaning Still Means You're Selling Something

    by Diane Farsetta — May 28, 2008 - 2:29pm

    The WPP Group's online advertising firm Bridge Worldwide offers its clients what it calls "marketing with meaning." For ConAgra, the firm created the "Start Making Choices" website, which "conveys nutrition, exercise and other well-being tips from cardiologist James Rippe ...

    Main Source: 
    Advertising Age, May 26, 2008
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