The Cancer Funding - Essay Example

Cancer Funding Introduction In the recent past, cancer disease has risen to become the number one source of marketing in the United States. Several companies have come on board, making millions of money other this crucial concept, some of these industries include Starbucks, KFC, Yoplait as well as the McDonalds. These companies have taken advantage of the campaign against cancer disease to take advantage of the sympathy from the American people. Cancer has developed a façade rather than being advertised for the horrible disease it truly is. Many sponsors of campaigns that fund research for cancer are eager to put the label “FIGHTING CANCER” on their products, when in reality a small percent of the proceeds actually goes to the actual funding. Companies abuse the term cancer and use it as a marketing scheme in order to profit from the disease, cancers that are known to have the highest death rate are completely underfunded as well. Cancer needs to be broken down, from the survival rates to the common misconception that there is ‘always hope.’ The main sponsors of cancer funding should be more transparent about what cancer is and prove that we are on the way towards a cure with their funding. In the recent past much has been seen about the kins of products being produced by companies in the name of assisting in the campaign against cancer. There has been a total confusion on the kinds of brands that have been known to be the actual campaigners for this disease. In actual sense, several companies have become creative and manufactured goods and service either without giving proper labeling on their features so that customers can easily identify them, or by producing replica brands that do not have any campaign against cancer ideology. This in essence means that customers have been suffering from exploitation from these companies without knowing, and this calls for considerable efforts in order to address this rising challenge. Are companies exploiting breast cancer campaign processes? The colour pink has always been used in several campaign activities for breast cancer, this means that everywhere the pink ribbon is being used, there are some levels of awareness being created about breast cancer (Polyak, 151). However, the concept is not the same whenever one looks at what is happening in most of the wholesale and retail outlets. Currently, any retail store reveals a different scenario about cancer treatment and awareness campaign, almost in every store, there is a whole range of pink products on the shelves, you are likely to see pink clogs, vegetable peelers, cleaning products and many others, all of these products are usually up on sale for the support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Many consumers always wants to be associated with efforts being done for a worthy course, for this reason, many of them begin to purchase products branded in this pink colour, thinking that they are in support of cancer campaign initiatives (Polyak, 152). Most of them purchase bulky commodities that are branded in pink colors, and are happy that they are taking part in efforts to find the cure for cancer. On the contrary, this is not the actual case; many companies are just using this advantage as an opportunity to increase their sales by creating this impression. This observations has aroused the eye of breast-cancer advocates, patients as well as other survivors to question of actually this campaign initiatives are in the best interest of cancer awareness campaign initiatives. Most of them are questioning whether the pink ribbon campaign is just rolling beyond the expected limits, this is brought about by the fact that companies seem to be making huge sales over this brand, and not living to its real intended purpose. I t has come to the attention of these advocates that those companies that make huge sales from branding their products with pink colors actually do not pledge much towards cancer treatment and awareness campaigns. In fact some of the companies do not even pledge at all, yet in the public relations, they speak of how they are actively committed to the process. Shoppers have been left to read on the pink packaged products in retail store in order to determine whether purchases of particular products is intended for cancer treatment and awareness campaign. There have been different labeling made on the products that have pink colors on their packages. Some have been written, “Money will go to support breast cancer,” in this case, customers are supposed to ask themselves some questions about the validity of these statement. For instance, is the statement specific on what it will particularly do? The advocates say that if such statements on the product packages are not specific on what they will do, like treatment, research or campaign, then consumers should not buy such products with the notion of participating in the cancer treatment and awareness campaigns. Other people and organizations have also decided to aid in establishing the kind of labels and the instructions behind them to find out if they are in tandem with the spirit of cancer awareness and treatment. On this note, the Daily finance undertook a survey on the kind of displays that were placed for products at a Kmart smart store (Picchi, 1), focusing on kind of language that was used in branding the product packages. In all the products that were sampled, the product that was found to be least informative was the pink swiffer sweeper, this product is manufactured by Procter & Gamble, a giant in the manufacture and sale of different varieties of consumer products (Picchi, 1). This statement has risen several questions about its relevance and effectiveness in the cancer treatment and awareness campaign initiatives. Many have questioned about how the purchase of this pink Swiffer is ideal in the cancer treatment and awareness cause. When contacted, the spokesperson of the company explained that they would donate to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, a body that coordinates all cancer treatment and awareness campaign initiatives. They explained that whenever a consumer used any coupon from proctor and gamble’s brand saver coupon book, then the donation was also made to the foundation. In case there was no coupon, then the company used the limited-edition pink on the packages in order to draw awareness to the case, and that it should not be interpreted to mean that it is making an insignificant contribution to the national cause. In the same survey, there was also information on a different package that seemed to be confusing. This product was Herrs Whole Grain Pretzel Ribbons, on the packaging of these products (Picchi, 1), there was a statement proclaiming that a portion of the sales was to be donated to efforts in breast-cancer awareness and related research programs. The point of contradiction in this set of brand information was the fact that an asterisk was missing on the statement. The purpose of the asterisk is to show exactly the sum that will be set aside for the cancer research programs, something that prompts a caveat that Herrs caps its donation at $15,000. Consumers have been warned that they should be most careful about products that have been capped by different companies. It has been discovered that capping donations is a practice that is characteristic of most corporate businesses and organizations, and one that consumers should be much careful about. This is because, after buying such products and the company’s set maximum has been reached, further purchase of the products does not go to the cause. Instead, it an opportunity for companies to make profits at the expense of consumers who are not aware of the progress. One of the main reasons why companies are exploiting and taking advantage of cancer disease and its related activities is the fact that no one is the sole owner of the pink ribbon label. At the same time, no individual or single organization has come on board to express interest in overseeing the use of the brand, and prosecute those who are using for their own selfish ulterior motives. Because of this confusion, it is difficult to say the exact amount that has been raised by companies and other organizations for the support breast cancer foundations and charities. However, a rough estimation goes beyond millions of dollars in terms of the amount that has been contributed so far. While some people have pointed out that the amount of money raised though this initiative should not be an issue of concern, some say that this is not the best argument. Cancer patients and experts on this issue have pointed out that cancer is a terminal disease and should not be used as a marketing strategy for those who do not care about the amount of money raised in the process (The Breast Cancer Association Consortium, 1390). When millions of money are recorded to have been contributed towards the process, it is evident that there is a double sum or more that goes unaccounted for especially by large corporate bodies. Further, they argue that the concept has become widespread and not just in America, in developing countries, the case is much worse, considering the fact that there is an acute shortage of information about cancer treatment and awareness campaigns. The government and other interested stakeholders should give this issue a serious consideration in order to protect cancer patients as well as worthy efforts in combating this terminal disease. Works cited Picchi Ainee. “Pink ribbon overkill: Are companies exploiting breast cancer campaigns?” Oct 12th May 2009 Web 6 May 2014. The Breast Cancer Association Consortium. Commonly studied SNPs and breast cancer: negative results from 12,000–32,000 cases and controls from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. J Natl Cancer Inst, 98.1. 2006: 1382-1396. Polyak Kornelia. Pregnancy and breast cancer: the other side of the coin. Cancer Cell, 9.1. 2006: 151-153. Read More