<p>razorsharp, have you never noticed various consumer products (clothing, shoes, bumper stickers, hats, pins, etc.) with the pink ribbon? The pink ribbon is a trademark of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. So while you may have never associated the pink ribbon with the name, surely you’ve seen pink ribbons. If you watched any professional football in October, every team sported some sort of pink ribbon wear, whether it be on their shoes, on their jersey, etc (even the refs got in on it). That’s all trademark Susan G. Komen Foundation trademark work.</p>
<p>Here’s an idea I really like (originally from a comment on a site called juanitajean dot com, but seems to be going viral):</p>
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<p>just donated to them at the end of the year, but want to donate again so that a “thank you” note gets sent to Karen Handel for a donation made in her honor.<br>
In fact, I think I will split the donation in two - half from me and half from hubby, so that the lovely Ms. Handel gets TWO more thank you notes.</p>
<p>Aside from the womens’ health issues this incident raises – it astonishes me that large corporations/organizations continue to make PR blunders of this magnitude. Did SGK really not anticipate the reaction?</p>
<p>Komen’s defunding Planned Parenthood was spectacularly, catastrophically incompetent. Komen is in the business of getting people to give them money. Social conservatives, liberals, people across the political spectrum contributed. Their entire value is in their goodwill. Now, in one fell swoop, they alienated half of their donors. How could this possibly make sense? </p>
<p>Their PR afterwards was also incredibly poor, but really, once they made the decision even brilliant PR couldn’t spin it. And they have no way to take it back, either, because if they do, they’ll just alienate their conservative supporters without winning back the Planned Parenthood fans they threw over the side.</p>
<p>I can just imagine the heat they’re getting from their soon-to-be-ex corporate sponsors. How’d you like to be the head of New Balance-- you just want to sell shoes, and all of a sudden you’re forced to take a position on abortion? The sponsors must be sizzling mad.</p>
<p>Whether the leaders of New Balance, or Yoplait, or Holland America Cruises, favor abortion or oppose it, I’m pretty sure they don’t want to take a corporate position on the subject and lose half their customers. I told New Balance I won’t buy from them again until they disassociate from Komen, and I won’t, but there are undoubtedly social conservatives who will stop buying New Balance shoes if they do end their relationship with Komen. The sponsors can’t win. </p>
<p>Epic fail. Startling, astounding mismanagement to flush away a brand they spent three decades building. What could they possibly have been thinking?</p>
<p>PS. Put down the botox and back away from the syringe, Ms. Brinkman. That face is scary.</p>
<p>It is a shame. I have lost respect for this organization. I will make a donation to Planned Parenthood to support women’s health. I was growing weary of the pink ad campaign anyway. They hijacked my favorite color so I’m taking it back.</p>
<p>My friends and I stopped giving to Komen a year ago, when they harrassed a local organization that raises funds for an “orphan” disease that a friend’s child suffers from. The letter they sent was unbelievable intimidating. However, the chair of the group ended up on national news because it turns out that she doesn’t intimidate easily.</p>
<p>The gumption of a group to think they can own the words “the cure”. (This group has a choo-choo train theme – Get on Board for the cure. </p>
<p>So, no Komen for me and my friends. Glad I haven’t given in a while.</p>
<p>Epic failure, indeed, on the part of Komen. No more pink purchases for me either. The Brinker family has long been associated with the conservative movement, so it really shouldn’t be surprising. And I love the idea of a thank you note being sent to Komen!</p>
<p>I simply hate that PP has the reputation of being all about abortion. They do so much other good work. Yet, educated and in-the-know people still don’t know about their educational endeavors, their free/low-cost health screenings, etc…</p>
<p>Interesting that this little spat (!) is between two very strong Texas women. Both are supporting women’s health in their own way. (Good for them!) PP’s President Cecile Richards, for those who may not know, is the daughter of the late Gov. Anne Richards who is one of my all-time favorites. Full disclosure: my family has roots in Texas, too. Gotta love strong women!</p>
<p>With all of the money that Komen uses for administrative purposes (exec salaries as opposed to funding research, etc.), I can’t believe their PR people have bungled this so badly.</p>
This is absolutely true. They are extremely litigious.</p>
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I totally agree. And, you know what? Men get cancer too, but it’s not an oxygen-sucking industry, either. My favorite color is pink, but I find the whole “only breasts matter” thing really bothersome. God help men who get breast cancer, too, because there is no place for them in pink.</p>
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But PP generally doesn’t do mammograms or biopsies, so those are done by other providers. Which is where a breast cancer charity should be sending its money, anyway.</p>
<p>Planned Parenthood is not a breast cancer organization. It is what it is and if one believes in the absolute right of women to an abortion on demand, then don’t be shy about owning that. Planned Parenthood provides abortions and birth control. If you value those services, by all means donate, but don’t pretend.</p>
<p>Komen’s donations are up 100% since this happened because there are as many pro life Americans as there are abortion rights supporters. There are also many abortion rights supporters who can’t live with some of the current behavior of PP employees and many, regardless of views on abortion, who believe Margaret Sanger was a monster. </p>
<p>So it’s not totally cut and dried. But I totally admire the mobilizing of the troops and the ability to stay on message.</p>
<p>Beil- I did not know that about Ann Richards daughter! Thanks for posting that. Awesome.</p>
<p>I don’t blame Komen for the litigation over the ribbon. You have to protect your mark. I do think the whole pink thing got out of control and also agree that much less money was actually going to the important parts of the research than many thought once everyone jumped on the pink bandwagon.</p>
You’re absolutely right. There is a perception that Komen is a warm, fuzzy, Kumbaya organization. It’s not. It’s a business. Same with Planned Parenthood. Each does things that some people agree with, some disagree with vehemently, and many people make a lot of money at each. And, frankly, PP does not and never did need Komen’s money. It’s unfortunate because the Komen decision ripped open a barely-scabbed wound, but it’s not really about the money.</p>
<p>Just submitted my donation to PP. No more money for SGK. Although I am grateful for the awareness and research funding to date, I don’t like what I have learned about the organization over the last 2 days. Not enough of the donations going to the cause (overhead including salaries and legal stuff beyond what I feel is reasonable - e.g. threatening small grass roots organizations). Brinker is coming off terribly in the media!
I do believe the PP de-funding is political. I support the 97% of the PP work that is not abortion related. And, although it is a tough topic, I will support a woman’s choice to have a SAFE abortion as long as it is legal in this country.</p>
Which is a totally principled position and I am standing and applauding you for your honesty.</p>
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Of course it is. There are quietly as many pro-life as pro-abortion rights Americans and Komen is siding with them. Which they are entitled to do. There should be a place in American society for differing points of view.</p>
The move is playing very, very well on the side that you’re not familiar with. Komen has doubled its contributions and generated untold goodwill among the millions of people who don’t want to be associated with PP for various different reasons. There isn’t only one side here, although it does seem that one side is louder than the other.</p>
<p>I think Z-mom nails it . . it’s just disappointing to me that Komen has evidentally decided to cast its lot into the abortion wars . . they could have worked hard to avoid choosing sides.</p>
<p>At first I thought Komen defunding Planned Parenthood was a ham-handed PR mistake, like Lowe’s recent decision to stop advertising on a reality show that portrayed American Muslims in their normal daily lives.</p>
<p>With this news from November 2011 it looks more like Komen is deliberately shifting its support away from work and/or research that Right to Lifers deem offensive.</p>
<p>In April 2011 Komen hired Karen Handel, an experienced Republican politician, as their vice president of public policy. In a July 2010 blog post during her run for Governor of Georgia, Handel said , “since I am pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood … In fact, state and federal law prohibits the use of taxpayer funds for abortions or abortion related services and I strongly support those laws. Since grants like these are from the state I’ll eliminate them as your next Governor.”</p>
<p>Looks like she is enacting the kind of policies she desires at Komen.</p>
<p>P.S. Regarding PP providing “abortions and birth control”, about 3% of their budget is the former, so it’s overwhelmingly a birth control and women’s health provider.</p>