With October behind us, we can now reflect on this past month of breast cancer awareness. Amongst many battles to fight cancer was the annual National Football League’s campaign for breast cancer awareness. An article written by Smriti Sinha (published by Vice Sports) recently investigated the NFL’s campaign, and according to the article, the proceeds raised by the NFL are not actually helping to save the lives of breast cancer victims.
Sinha’s examination of the NFL’s campaign tells us that this awareness campaign is simply just that—an awareness campaign. “The month-long campaign that paints everything from player’s shoes to fields to penalty flags pink, doesn’t actually result in a single dollar donated to breast cancer research,” said Sinha. Instead, the NFL donates the proceeds to the American Cancer Society (ACS), who then uses the money for increasing awareness, education, and breast-cancer screenings for women over forty-years old.
Of course, awareness plays an important role in the fight against breast cancer, as with any form of cancer: it is not a crime to increase awareness and education! Nonetheless, several people buying pink NFL paraphernalia are perhaps under the misconception that their donations are “saving lives,” This is especially due to the campaign’s slogan, “Annual Screening Saves Lives.” Sinha’s article points out that, while breast cancer screenings are extremely helpful in the matter of awareness, they are not necessarily saving lives. Therefore, the NFL is misrepresenting their charity.
In addition to Sinha’s suggestion to donate money to breast-cancer research instead of awareness, the article also makes the point to double-check any charity to which one is donating.
This is just one opinion on the matter, and Her Campus Conn encourages readers to take a look at the article for themselves.