No matter where you go, whenever you see a pink ribbon you automatically know what it stands for.  No words or pictures need to accompany it.  The pink ribbon is so widely found on a variety of merchandise and apparel in the United States that people automatically associate it with breast cancer without having to think about it.  However, the breast cancer pink ribbon has some history to it and even has some current controversy.

The idea of using a ribbon to promote a cause or spread a message was first started in 1979.  During this year, Americans were being held hostage in Iran, and their families, friends and soon the whole nation tied yellow ribbons around trees to show their support for freeing the hostages and bringing them home.

In the early 1990s, a 68 year old woman by the name of Charlotte Haley used the same concept when her daughter, grandma and sister were all diagnosed with breast cancer.  To raise awareness, she began making ribbons in the color of peach and attaching them to cards.  These cards contained information about the annual budget of the National Cancer Institute and how only a small portion of this budget was being spent on cancer research and prevention.  The card urged people to contact their legislators to make a change in this and to wear the ribbons to raise awareness. 

In 1991, Evelyn Lauder of the Estee' Lauder Corporation and Alexandra Penney of Self Magazine were putting together a special insert piece for the October edition of Self magazine to recognize breast cancer awareness month.  They heard about the peach ribbons and contacted Haley to determine if they could use them.  Haley declined claiming it would make the cause commercialized, and that it would lose its grassroots appeal.  However, Lauder and Penney really wanted to use the ribbon concept, so they consulted with their legal departments to see what they could do.  The legal departments finally agreed they could use the ribbons as long as they changed the color.  They chose pink, and the breast cancer awareness pink ribbon concept has grown from there.

Today it not only shows support for the cause, but the pink breast cancer awareness ribbon stands for the sisterhood that helps women survive and conquer the disease.  A variety of merchandise and products contain this breast cancer pink ribbon including clothing, jewelry, household items, hobby supplies, and even items for your car.

With pink ribbons on lots of different merchandise, there are now consumer groups that keep a close eye on corporations with breast cancer pink ribbon products and the amount of money they donate to breast cancer programs.  One of these is the 'Think Before You Pink' campaign.  It educates people on the fact that corporations could be benefiting by marketing their products to consumers using the breast cancer awareness pink ribbon.  Recently they did an ad campaign about Eureka vacuums, as the company claimed to donate $1 from the sell of every vacuum to breast cancer.  While donating a dollar seems significant, the campaign pointed out that one dollar is less than one percent of the cost of the vacuum, signifying the pink ribbon is mainly there for marketing purposes.  This campaign advocates consumers become informed before making a purchase and decide if the purchase really will make a difference or if the company is simply exploiting the breast cancer pink ribbon in an attempt to boost sales.

Breast cancer is a disease that affects many people.  The breast cancer pink ribbon has become widely known as the symbol for it, and a variety of merchandise contains the ribbon.  Few consumers purchasing the merchandise know the history behind the pink breast cancer awareness ribbon, and most don't question what amount of their purchase of breast cancer merchandise actually benefits the cause.  What they do care about is raising awareness and showing support, both of which are done through the display of the breast cancer pink ribbon.