Pinkwashing

Pinkwashing

So in my marketing class we are talking about cause marketing which is marketing a product by tying it to a cause, RED by Bono is a prime example of this. Companies that sell RED get the publicity of helping out the charity and RED gets cash to carry out their work. On the surface both sides appear to be benefiting, and in many cases both sides do benefit and treat each other fairly. Being a cynic I tend to think of these product and “cause tie-ins” are simply PR stunts by the company which, to its credit, does help the cause that it is related to even if it is only because of the publicity that the company gives it. One of the articles that we had to read for the class mentions that if a company has a cause product (e.g. a RED shirt) then it can raise prices for that product, which makes since because  they are giving cash to the cause. The article then mentions that if a company has a cause marketing product it can raise prices on non-cause related products and not upset their customers. The study didn’t mention why this works but their findings showed that companies with cause marketing products were able to raise the price on other products and still get customers rather than the customers leaving to go to a non-cause marked company’s product. Basically because they do the cause related “good deed” they are able to jack up prices and make even more cash. While this is bad there is something happening that is even worse a trend known as Pinkwashing. 

Pinkwashing is a combination of the Pink product line, which supports breast cancer research, and white washing which was when one would cover a dirty surface with a cheap white paint to give it the appearance of cleanliness. Basically what a company that Pinkwashes does is try to get a hold of people that want to help breast cancer research by buying pink products while not actually helping pink. The product may be colored pink or have the word pink on it but is in no way related to the charity cause. Pinkwashing is not just limited to the Pink label but other cause marketing initiatives, taking this concept and applying it to fit other markets (e.g. the fake livestrong bracelets). These Pinkwashing companies exploit the good intentions of buyers to make a cheap buck and are decent at doing it. So beware of them.

One side note. Remember back with the BP oil spill how Dawn had the soaps that said it donated money for every one of them that you bought up to $500,000? Well evidently for it to donate from the purchase you needed to go to a website and submit a few things before the money would be donated. While Dawn did get enough people to read this fine print to donate over $500,000 (since it was quite popular) the fact that there was the fine print on a cause marketed product is something to keep in mind if you’re buying something because of a cause that it supports. Like many things in life the fine print can hamper what you are trying to do.