With the most fortunate timing a political doc can ever hope for, Pink Ribbons Inc. opens in Canada today and will soon be slated for US dates.
A feature documentary based on Dr. Samantha King’s book Pink Ribbons Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy, the film takes the Susan G. Komen Foundation to task for its fiscal management and marketing alliances with multinational corporations and argues that the devastating reality of breast cancer, which marketing experts have labeled a “dream cause,” has been hijacked by a shiny, pink story of success.
As the doc recounts, breast cancer has become the poster child of corporate cause-related marketing campaigns. Countless women and men walk, bike, climb and shop for the cure. These days you can row and jump for the cause. You can be a warrior in pink by driving a Ford you’ve pumped with pink gasoline, tote a pink hand gun, bake a pink cake in your pink stand mixer and, later, wipe yourself clean with pink premium toilet tissue.
Each year, these efforts raise millions of dollars in the name of breast cancer, but where does this money go and what does it actually achieve? The film takes on these questions and argues that it’s time to take off the rose-colored glasses and repoliticize the discussion.
