Companies Commit Social Injustice To Women By Adopting 'Pinkwashing'

Experts have claimed that companies that try to increase sales of their products by adopting the colour pink and pink ribbons to imply that they support breast cancer research - a practice called "pinkwashing" - are committing a form of social injustice against women. Amy Lubitow, Portland State University (Oregon), and Mia Davis, Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (Boston, MA), said these companies at the same time permit the use of chemicals shown to cause cancer.

They argued that aligning oneself with a cause such as breast cancer, while carrying out research, manufacturing, or other types of policies or processes that involve the use of chemicals with a proven link to cancer crosses a critical line between just and unjust practices.

The authors state that "pinkwashing simultaneously increases profits and potentially contributes to increasing cancer rates and obscures an environmental health discourse that recognizes the environmental causes of breast cancer...".

They put their view in the article entitled, 'Pastel Injustice: The Corporate Use of Pinkwashing for Profit' in Environmental Justice, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

Source-ANI