Brands are Once Again in the Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

It's been 20 years since Evelyn Lauder created the Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign, and brands continue to support the work in a variety of initiatives. Indeed, this year's Delta pink plane is adding Lauder's signature, as seen above, to honor the woman and her brands' contributions to fighting breast cancer.

2012 also marks Ford Motor Company's 18th year of involvement having dedicated more than $115 million to the cause so far, and this year’s Ford Warriors in Pink campaign offers a limited-edition T-shirt inspired by film and television actor James Denton. For every shirt sold, 100% of net proceeds go to the Pink Fund, an organization that provides short-term financial aid to people during treatment. "The last thing someone with breast cancer needs to worry about is how they are going to pay their bills," says Denton.

Go Daddy is ‘driving’ awareness with Danica Patrick donning pink gear for the GoDaddy.com No. 7 Chevrolet in Friday’s NASCAR Nationwide race in Charlotte. “It’s time to kick breast cancer’s butt,” Patrick commented. “So many women and their families have been impacted by breast cancer … if we all work together, we can definitely help find a cure sooner, rather than later.”

Go Daddy’s "Round Up for Charity" program where customers round up purchases to the nearest dollar has raised more than $8,750 in customer donations in just three weeks and their “Care Package,” lets customers tell their story with a custom website that includes a domain name, a custom journaling template, fundraising and guestbook apps and hosting, with Go Daddy  donating $5 to the NBCF for every package purchased. 

Pantene and singer/actress, Maite Perroni, are supporting the Beautiful Lengths hair donation program begun in 2006, encouraging people to cut and donate their healthy hair to create free wigs for women who have lost theirs. To date, the program has received over 450,000 hair donations and more than 24,000 real-hair wigs have been donated through The American Cancer Society. "I’m very proud to join Pantene in support of this great cause that is so close to my heart! One of the most difficult moments of my life was when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010. I realized that this disease comes without knocking on your door,” said Perroni.

PUMA’s Project Pink kicked off this summer with Ashley Tisdale, and will donate 100% of profits from tickets to a special match Saturday, October 13, at Titan Stadium, California State University Fullerton. The team rosters include Josh Bowman, Revenge, Charlie Bewley, Twilight, Aimee Teegarden, Friday Night Lights and several pro soccer players including Amy Rodriguez, Julie Foudy, Jay DeMerit, Matt Reis, Karina LeBlanc, Kasey Keller and Dwayne De Rosario.

More than 350 Macy's stores have opened pop-up “Pink Shop” boutiques this month, selling items ranging from Pink Envelope trench coats to pink-hued skinny denim from Celebrity Pink. “Macy’s has a long-standing commitment to giving back and supporting causes that are important to the communities we live in,” stated Macy's CMO Martine Reardon.

Bright Pink, the only national non-profit focused on education and support for young women at risk has amassed an impressive list of corporate sponsors and product partnerships including Orbit, Aerie, Flywheel Sports, G by Giuliana, eBay, George Gina & Lucy, Zon Fitness and One Styling.

A dissenting voice to the sea of pink taking over brands this month came from sports writer Peter King as he tweeted about the NFL's pink-hued support, “Please, Not pink for a month, NFL. A week, great. But a month?”

“Most of us like women and don’t like cancer…That doesn’t mean we can’t be disgusted by the over-appropriation and commodification of disease, the way it’s used to leer at women or reduce our value to just the sexy parts,” noted Salon. “We can support women, we can be outraged at the viciousness of cancer, and not believe in pink.” 

BCRF will award $40 million to 197 scientists across the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and China this month, largely due to all those who do believe in the power of pink to change the world.