Posted on October 5, 2023

By Zoë Christopher, Program Officer

Through 20 years of industry-disrupting Think Before You Pink® campaigns, we changed the landscape of pink ribbon marketing – for the better.

Watch the history of what YOU helped make possible with our 20 Year Look Back Video. 

Thanks to the accountability demanded by breast cancer activists, today there are fewer meaningless pink ribbon products on the market, offering us the opportunity to do more.  

We’re ready to break new ground again, and we’re expanding Think Before You Pink through deeper political education. In this year’s campaign, we’ll explore the intersections of:

  • Environmental Racism – launching next week
  • Fossil Fuel Divestment – launching the week of Monday, October 16
  • And the Politics of Breast Cancer – launching the week of Monday, October 23

With Think Before You Pink Goes Rogue, we’ll turn from a focus on corporate leaders and pink ribbon campaigns, and pivot to focus on our own community. Many of our members are long-term, seasoned breast cancer activists, and many of our members are new to our work. To move forward together as we expand the focus of this campaign, we’re offering foundational definitions to ensure alignment for all breast cancer activists who support the work to address and end the breast cancer crisis.

See our FAQ about Think Before You Pink Goes Rogue, to learn more about what is changing, and what remains the same.

Here are some of the questions we’re giving you insider information on, as we expand this campaign:

Why are you focused on political education rather than targeting a single, for-profit pink ribbon product this year?

When we launched our first industry-disrupting campaign, pink ribbons were everywhere.

For over 20 years, our community of passionate activists has joined us in calling out the pinkwashing, profiteering, and empty awareness that takes place during breast cancer “awareness” month that does little more than line corporate pockets. You heard the call to collective action, and over time, you helped us expose the dark underbelly of pink ribbon cause marketing.

Together, we changed the landscape. [Read more with our Think Before You Pink Goes Rogue FAQ…]

Will you still call out pinkwashing and fundraisers that exploit the pink ribbon?

You betcha. It’s who we are.

And we still want to hear from you, as grassroots breast cancer activists who know your communities best. [Read more on how to take action when you spot pinkwashing from our FAQ…]

Together, we’ll continue to build on the legacy of Think Before You Pink. By connecting the dots between environmental racism, fossil fuel divestment, and the politics of breast cancer, we’ll do more than build “awareness” and buy pink ribbon products.

We’ll take collective ACTION to demand structural solutions for all communities, to address and end breast cancer for all. Join us in activism this October.