Walkathon Maven

The month of October is winding down, and so is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

November is Diabetes Awareness month, yet I have not seen any purple (I think that is their color) items for sale promoting the cause. November is also the official month for many other organizations:

Pancreatic Awareness Month

Alzheimer’s Awareness Month

Lung Cancer Awareness Month

Prematurity Awareness Month

Epilepsy Awareness Month

Some of these organizations have walkathons, and some promote their cause thru other activities.

A fun November event is Movenmber. Men (and some women too, I guess) are encouraged to grow facial hair to bring awareness to men’s health.   I hope they have a walkathon someday, because I have a feeling that would be a fun one to attend!

Movember participants are encouraged to become a Mo Sista or a Mo Bro and raise money for the Movember Foundation.  I checked with Charity Navigator and they are unrated. Not sure what they do with the money, but I love the unique concept.

I came upon a big-honkin-pink display at Bed Bath and Beyond.  I had no idea there were so many items using pink to sell their products!  Take a lookie:

pink toothbrush!

pressure cookers! TicTacs, tweezers, ice compresse, pillow, curler, tumblers and pens!

Eos for lips, airline carry ons, binder clips and spatulas!

I hope all the money made from these pink items makes it to the right place, and by right place I mean a place that supports breast health.   Off to November!  I wonder if we will see fake moustaches for sale!

Happy Friday!

I came upon these funnies and wanted to share them with y’all!  Have a good weekend!

Another great name for a pottie!

The Chronicle of Philanthropy has been running a good series of the promotion of pink products.

This article is a good one suggesting that companies using pink to raise money should disclose the cancer-causing agents in their products. OUCH!

Thanks to my readers, I have been forwarded another pu-pu-platter of redonk pink products that use Breast Cancer Awareness month to promote their brand.

Our local PF Chang’s was in the paper for painting their big-honkin-horse pink for breast cancer awareness month.  If you buy a pink sushi roll or take a selfie with the pink horse, they will donate money to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Valvoline will help you pimp-out your car with pink wiper blades with their Change your Blades Change a Life campaign.  They also give money to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Our friends in the NFL are promoting the A Crucial Catch campaign this month.   Many players are wearing pink shoes, towels and head wraps to promote the cause. The NFL is partnering with the American Cancer Society and have listed what  each NFL team is doing this month to promote breast cancer awareness. This is a pretty impressive list of activities that each team is involved in. Check it out.

The month is young! Keep sending me the shameless pink promoters!

Happy October! Be prepared for falling leaves, cooler weather and the retail world using the color pink to sell merchandise!

I like to start the month by getting a mammogram.  I went today for my annual breast-squishing and it was lovely. Not really, but early detection is the best protection. Go Git-er-done!

As I mentioned above, ’tis the season for the retail world to use the color pink, and the issue of breast cancer to make money. I have come upon a few of these merchants in the past week and I’ll share with you my findings on how much money (if any) they are giving to the cause.

Here is what I found at my local BJs in the September.  Just like Halloween candy in August, and Christmas decorations in October – this vendor got a jump on the pink stuff. West Coast Novelty group proudly displays that they will give $100K to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation regardless of sales.   I LOVE that they are upfront about the donation! I think that ALL retailers using a color or a cause to sell merchandise should indicate on the packaging how much they are giving and the exact name of the organization they are giving to.  Charity Navigator gives the BCRF a four-star rating.  That’s good.

I saw this promotion in the Sunday newspaper and received an email a few times this past weekend.  Sports Authority is selling pink stuff to support breast cancer awareness month. I clicked thru the link that they offered to find out about preventing breast cancer.  No mention on a monetary donation or breast cancer organization was indicated.  Just buy the pink stuff offered by Wilson, Nike, Columbia, New Era, Gaiam, etc..  The Sports Authority Sport Your Pink promotion is clearly just an awareness (read: marketing) campaign.

One of my fave online retailers, Lands End, sent out this email this week indicating their Pink Thread Project and partnership with breastcancer.org.  According to their website: From totes and towels to cardigans and shirts – through October 31, 2014, when you apply one of six pink thread icons on any Lands’ End item that can be embroidered, 75% of the $6.00 embroidery application fee will be donated to Breastcancer.org 

Being a mathematician, I computed that 75% of $6 is $4.50.  I found some small print and read that the donation will be up to $10,000.  I like the generous amount of the donation, and wonder if their marketing plan costs are more than the actual donation.   Charity Navigator gives four stars to breastcancer.org

I’m sure to see more of these pink promotions this month and I look forward to sharing with you!

Best of luck this weekend to my pals at the Boston Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk!  May Mutha Nature be smiling on you!