Tell KFC and Komen to stop the pinkwashing!

We've seen a lot of outrageous stuff here at BCA, but we've never seen pink buckets of fried chicken being sold to “cure breast cancer”. KFC and Susan G. Komen for the Cure have started a campaign telling us to buy buckets of unhealthy food to cure a disease that kills women.

This pinkwashing is especially egregious because KFC, like most fast food chains, is overwhelmingly present in communities that have poor health outcomes. Susan G. Komen for the Cure knows that social inequities affect breast cancer mortality rates. Given this disconnect, we are especially disturbed by this partnership. It's preposterous, and we have to tell them to stop.

Every bucket makes a difference? Only to KFC's bottom line.

KFC is pinkwashing to make a profit, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure is accepting KFC's bad-for-your-health money. Tell them to rethink this partnership.

Read and (optionally) edit the message below, then send it!

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Subject:

Your Letter:

Dear KFC and Susan G. Komen for the Cure,

I am appalled by your “Buckets for the Cure” partnership. I share Breast Cancer Action's shock at this outrageous campaign, which uses the breast cancer epidemic to improve the American public's perception of KFC, and increase the company’s profits from the sale of pink buckets of chicken. There is no doubt in my mind that countless people affected by breast cancer find this campaign offensive and upsetting, as is evident from many blog posts and Facebook pages I have seen.

KFC (with Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s blessing) is engaged in one of the worst examples of pinkwashing. A pinkwasher is a company that purports to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink-ribboned product while at the same time manufacturing products that contribute to the disease. In this case, KFC is encouraging people to buy pink buckets of chicken to demonstrate its alleged commitment to ending the breast cancer epidemic. However, KFC's food is unhealthy and much of it is marketed to low-income communities. KFC thus contributes to the significant problem of providing poor food choices for low-income communities in the United States, who disproportionately suffer from poor breast cancer outcomes and other problems that may be exacerbated by an unhealthy diet. 
   
Instead of partnering with a corporation that sells unhealthy food, I believe that Susan G. Komen for the Cure should work with companies that do not contribute to the breast cancer epidemic.

Liz Thompson

President, Susan G. Komen for the Cure

Nancy Brinker

CEO, Susan G. Komen for the Cure

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