THE NFL'S PINK OCTOBER DOES NOT RAISE MONEY FOR CANCER RESEARCH (2014)

[CobraVerde]

In case you missed it. A good article from 2014 and a reminder.

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/the-nfls-pink-october-does-not-raise-money-for-cancer-research

If you're a football fan—and, y'know, a good human being—you've probably once in the last six years been lured into buying the NFL's Pink October paraphernalia and then slept well thinking about your contribution to the league's effort to "help fight breast cancer."

In which case, this might keep you awake: The month-long campaign that paints everything from player's shoes to fields to penalty flags pink, doesn't actually result in a single dollar donated to breast cancer research. Yup, not a penny.

Read More: The NFL Is Lying About Its Popularity

This is how it works: The NFL donates proceeds from its awareness campaign, auctions, and the NFL Shop to the American Cancer Society (ACS), which in turns uses that money to increase awareness, education, and screenings for women over 40.

"The money that we receive from NFL has nothing to do with our research program," ACS spokeswoman Tara Peters told VICE Sports. All NFL donations go to ACS' CHANGE program, through which the organization awards grants to "community based health facilities" located within 100 miles of an NFL city for educating women about breast health. The ACS could not provide the names of any of these health facilities, but it says that these centers have answered questions about early detection of the disease for at least 72,000 women in the last three years and screened 10,000 women at little or no cost.

Seems admirable, right? Actually, no, says Karuna Jaggar, who heads the Think Before You Pink campaign, a watchdog for the country's breast cancer programs. She finds the NFL's A Crucial Catch campaign's public health message, "Annual Screening Saves Lives," highly misinformative.

Dutifully branded Pink October towels at an NFL game. Photo by Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

"Screening doesn't save lives and screening mammography … is different from diagnostic mammography," Jagger says. "The NFL has no business providing medical advice to women that is outdated, unproven, and misguided."

Jagger quotes well-regarded and independently conducted research that shows screening mammography has no overall impact on survival rates of women with the disease. The most substantive mammography research, a study that followed 100,000 women for 25 years, concluded that annual screening does not result in a reduction in breast cancer specific mortality for women over 40 in any way that goes beyond physical examination. These screenings are the mainstay and only measurable aspect of the NFL's A Crucial Catch campaign, which Jaggar says is spreading an outdated message about early detection.

Her organization, Breast Cancer Action, urges people to follow the money before they buy cute pink things waiting for the next big breakthrough for the disease. The important questions to ask are: How much money from pink products is going to any effective programs that are actively trying to fight breast cancer? What are those programs doing with the money? And is there a cap on the amount of money that companies donate? In other words, are sales benefitting women's health after a company's self-imposed donation threshold has been met? In 2010, Reebok set a $750,000 cap on their contribution to the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade regardless of how many of their pink-ribboned products were sold. There was no way for the consumers to know if that limit had already been met.

In the NFL's case, too, there are some clauses written in fine print. Their website claims that, at retail, 100 percent of the NFL's proceeds from Pink October product sales go to the ACS. But that does not mean if you buy a $100 shoe from NFLShop.com, ACS gets $100. If you're buying any pink products from the official shop, the wholesaler, distributor, and retailer give 0 percent of their shares to ACS. The only portion that goes to the society is the NFL's royalty percentage from wholesale sales, which has little to do with whether you buy a $80 hoodie or a $30 cap. Unlike some companies that spell out on the tag exactly what percentage of your purchase goes to charity, you have no way of knowing with NFL branded merchandise.

In fact, the NFL's claim of 100 percent proceeds from auction and 100 percent proceeds from retail has translated to an average of just $1.1 million every year since they partnered with ACS six years ago. That's less than .01 percent of the approximately $10 billion the league made in revenue last year. And almost five times less than what ACS' other partners, such as Walgreens, manage to donate to the same program—a program that, again, gives zero dollars to cancer research.

"You can't shop your way out of the breast cancer epidemic," Jaggar says. "There's definitely a lot of hypocrisy in the NFL trying to choose a popular charity when there are other significant problems within the league."

If you'd really like to sleep well, donating directly to a cancer charity that is more transparent may be a better idea. 

Editor's Note: Prior to publication, VICE Sports reached out to the NFL via email for comment. A response came at 4:02 PM EST on October 7 stating they would be "back in touch soon." VICE Sports received no followup response prior to publication.

[Blackout]

the NFL is ran by a bunch of scumbags

[Maxman]

I have to say I disagree with a lot of this but I am not surprised that people would think more money was being donated from the NFL Shop etc. Although I am not concerned at all with the money side because this has raised awareness and that is a very good thing. Unfortunately I know much more about breast cancer than I ever hoped to. Watching Lauren battle this for 2 of the last 3 years or so was never the plan. We will be at the Cancer Institute again on Tuesday.

What the article says is the NFL is misleading people when they say screening saves lives. The article is saying that physical screening doesn't save lives you need a mammography.

Well, yeah, you do.

That said, I have watched these commercials a billion times and every time I see the word screening I took it to mean a mammo. I have seen Lauren tout the virtues of early detection and every time she says that I took it to mean a mammo. If the NFL is saying physical screenings in the fine print somewhere well, I agree that you shouldn't be listening to the NFL for medical advice. But in every circle I have seen screening means something more than a physical exam.

Buying a pink jersey is a way to support your team and support breast cancer awareness. I don't know people who buy the pink because they think it is curing the disease. Watching both of my sons play football and wearing the pink always made us happy. Even before Lauren was personally impacted because they were supporting women who went through something terrible.

So I commend the NFL for this, even if they don't give a penny. Because it gets people talking about early detection. Both times Lauren had cancer, it was not found with a physical exam. So anyone who thinks that is enough, it isn't. Here is healthcare today, you are your own advocate. Lauren was told to wait this time. Wait 6 months because they couldn't get a biopsy and said this is probably a false alarm. Guess what she didn't wait, she pushed and the biopsy proved it was cancer. So the pink does help spur a conversation and raise awareness for a lot of people that wouldn't be thinking about it otherwise.

So many women are alive today because of early detection. Every day I wake up and I thank God and I thank all the people who work so hard to cure this disease for that.