The NFL continues to fail women while profiteering off breast cancer

I'd argue the unquantifiable "awareness" aspect of this campaign is what makes it such a sham. Everyone knows about breast cancer. Really, they do. The NFL isn't selling pink jerseys and towels in the NFL Shop to raise awareness. It's selling them because it is a revenue stream.

The NFL is donating a little more than $1 million per year to actually support the fight against breast cancer and claiming to be a champion for women in the battle against this deadly disease.

 

First of all, you keep using that phrase "revenue stream" as if it's of some information content. Unless you're in a zero-variable-cost scenario, "revenue stream" is absolutely meaningless. On a cash-flow basis, the pink scheme might actually be a net loss. Yeah, there are enhanced revenues, but in case you've forgotten, revenues almost always come at a cost (and these certainly do). That doesn't mean the program's not a net gain, of course, because goodwill can be awfully hard to quantify. But it does mean that simply saying, "Huh, the NFL sold X millions of dollars of that stuff and only gave away Y% of that ... that's horrible!" is simply uninformed finger-wagging.

Second of all, you're assuming that every dollar spent on the NFL's pink stuff is a dollar that the NFL wouldn't have otherwise realized. I don't know exactly what proportion of pink sales cannibalize sales of other NFL stuff, but I do know: 1) that proportion is greater than zero; and 2) it doesn't have to be very large for the pink program to actually be a net negative (on a short-term, cash-flow basis).

Which brings me to this: If the NFL's breast cancer awareness program is such a sham, then why aren't we hearing about the shams being perpetuated by these dastardly folks (and others)?

Major League Baseball
http://shop.mlb.com/category/index.jsp?categoryId=21475446

The NCAA
http://www.fanatics.com/COLLEGE_Breast_Cancer_Awareness

Procter and Gamble
http://www.pgeveryday.com/tag/breast-cancer-awareness

Macy's
http://www1.macys.com/shop/womens-clothing/the-pink-shop?id=65785

Honey-Baked Hams
http://www.honeybaked.com/foilsbreastcancer/

I happen to agree with you that we need more awareness about breast cancer about as much as we need another 24-hour, all-sports cable network. Then again, I'd say the same thing about any number of other pestes du jour. So spare us the outrage ... please.

 

WWE does pink merch for Komen, which gets 20 percent of the retail price if you take their word for it. Just make sure you're not running a tiny charity race or Komen will sic its lawyers for trademark infringement over the word "Cure" or the color pink (at least it was doing that a few weeks ago).

https://community.wwe.com/hope/news/wwe-goes-pink-susan-g-komen

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/793176

I'm just too cynical to fall for buying any merchandise with any variation of the phrase "a portion of the proceeds goes toward ..."

 

SNF had a feature on a woman that went to a Pink game last year and the breast cancer awareness reminded her to check herself and she found a lump. The NFL saved that woman's life.

I guess.

I'm happy for her, just surprised there are still people not aware of breast cancer these days.

 

I'm suprised people by the 70s, 80s, , 90s, did not know cigarettes were bad for them.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jimdalrympleii/a-florida-widow-won-236-billion-in-a-lawsuit-against-a-tobac#3r1g4me

 

Makes me wish we had lived in Florida. That wasn't long before my father died after over 40 years of smoking. (He started when he was 12.)

I know this veers way off topic, but if she can win that kind of reward on that kind of case, the tobacco companies are going to be shelling out a hell of a lot of money.

 

I'm sorry, but I'm tired of hearing how morally bankrupt the NFL is when it comes to breast cancer, military, et cetera...because they were already morally bankrupt. Tell me something I don't know.

Is the NFL is money-grubbing factory? Hell yes. The NFL is a business. So are the MLB, NHL, college sports, and others. But, we love to poke at the NFL because they're the big dog in all of this. Last year, some pissed off writer complained on how the NFL was profiteering off of the military.

No shit Sherlock. Everyone has profiteered.

All of them (all pro sports league) are not ashamed on jumping on the "causes" bandwagon, and profiting from it. The colleges have perfected it with Jimmy V and Komen. Have they supported any other causes besides those two?

What I got a problem with is the wannabe moralists banging on the NFL. Call everyone out: baseball, hoops, hockey, and others. Going after the NFL is easy because of the mess they're in. It's a lazy-ass way to rant about something we already knew about.

I am not against promoting the awareness of breast cancer and military personnel, even if it's overkill. It's important for people to know the effects of cancer and offer support to cancer patients, and support the people who are serving in the military.

I do have a problem with how other causes get pushed off to the side when it comes to breast cancer and military. You mean to tell me that Alzheimer's, diabetes, and mental illness doesn't, or shouldn't get the national stage like Komen, Jimmy V, and a solider get through Oprah, ESPN, and the NFL?

That pisses me off.

Yes the NFL is making money off the coattails, but so does MLB with their pink bats and pink hats; the NHL with pink sticks and pink jerseys.

ALS had to put together a campaign to challenge people to douse themselves with a bucket of ice cold water in order to get a nation to know about ALS. If smaller causes have to go to levels like that to get attention, without the help of sports leagues, then you know what that tells me?

Sports need to do more than ride the coattails of the easy causes like Jimmy V, breast cancer, and the military. Take a chance and support a cause that many people may not know (understand) about.

The burn for me is how easy and automatic it is for entities like the NFL, companies, and celebrities to "go pink". Komen is a fucking powerhouse, I give them that. I was happy as hell to see what ALS did, because smaller causes deserve the attention as well...and the support from the sports world.