I was planning on writing a post about how the breast cancer movement has become over commercialized. Pink is persistent in the month of October found everywhere from the cleats of NFL players to the lapels of politicians. You can buy everything from hammers and hats to golf balls and travel mugs with the pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness and research proudly displayed.
But something is missing from this mass marketing of the pink ribbon - the awareness. The movement is supposed to remind women to check their breasts for abnormalities. The heightened publicity for the month of October is to remind you to watch your body and catch this disease early so it's not deadly.
Instead, it's a way for companies to boost the bottom line while tossing a percentage of profits in the research kitty. Breast cancer is big business, to be sure.
That was my original thesis, anyway. And then I stumbled into a video that gets the spirit of what this movement is about.
Yes, even when talking about breast cancer, there's an app for that. An app that is free. An app that brings everything about this movement full circle.
Rethink Breast Cancer's Your Man Reminder is cheeky, fun and not about putting pink in every window, on every accessory and every athlete - it's about awareness. It's about prevention. It's about looking after yourself.
Celebrate the survivors and honour those who have passed with pink this month, but also remember to regularly give yourself a little T-L-C.
To be honest, I'd like to go back to the days when black and orange were popular for the season, not pink. Wouldn't it be great if our grand-kids just knew October as the month we celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving?
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