Breast cancer awereness month in a pink America

Come October and we welcome the Breast cancer awareness month. Pink--the color of the season, the color of awareness.

It's the time of the year when men can wear pink without eyebrows being raised. Not only that, soups are turning pink, so are regular home appliances. Even the ever macho video gaming consoles and trendy sports gear come in pink.

It's the 25th anniversary of the awareness month. In the beginning, no one could have possibly estimated the reach of this campaign, be it the wave of pink unleashed on retail shelves or the support it would garner worldwide.

What started as a cute pink trend, with pink clothes and fashion accessories, has evolved into a fashion statement for the month of October. From pink chocolates, to pink masculine shaving blades to a pink kitchen, this widespread wave of support and adoption was never anticipated.

Buyers, upon taking a moment without their pink-tinted frames, find it amazing that every item they could possibly want is pink for the cause.

Is it really a cause?
There is no legal clause that restricts companies from embellishing their products in a coat of pink, with or without the donation of a single penny to breast cancer charities.

With this revelation, consumers wonder whether companies’ willingness to contribute for a social cause is just a façade for ulterior financial motives.

Breast cancer patients have reported to be frustrated of the decorative pink in their lives after diagnosis. Most question the authenticity of the color.

25 years after its inception, has the color run its course? Apparently not. Buyers till flock to shelves in great numbers to go pink; and this is what retail stores bank upon.

Pink, green and...?
With Al Gore bringing “An Inconvenient Truth” to the world's attention, everyone is feeling a varying degree of urgency to go green.

October continues to be pinky with even some Diet Coke 12-packs coming with pink and ribbons on them, but nowhere on the package does it indicate money goes to breast cancer.

Supported by the doubts of consumers about the annual pinking of America, a watchdog organization, www.ThinkBeforeYouPink.org, is digging into how committed companies are to eradicating breast cancer.

Corporations know the pink marketing technique works, but their reason of adopting the color is profit.

A corporate head explains that with pink packages, everyone wins, as it helps the manufacturers and consumers alike, by increasing awareness and inspiring early-detection techniques.