How Much Is The NFL Profiting From All This Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Merchandise?

[douglas9]

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and anyone who has watched an NFL game this month and seen players sporting pinks shoes and other accessories can tell you. But for all the talk about raising awareness of the deadly disease, is the NFL just looking at pink and seeing green?


Business Insider’s Cork Gaines recently looked at this issue to see just how much the NFL is making off the pink-themed merchandise it sells.

It’s important to distinguish here between the pink gear worn by the players on the field, which is auctioned off, with the money going to the American Cancer Society, and the pink merch that is being sold in the NFL Shop.

Gaines points out that the latter are marketed as a way to “support the fight against breast cancer with pink NFL breast cancer awareness gear,” which may lead some to believe that by purchasing these items, they are making a donation to cancer research. In fact, only 5% of the sales of these items is going to the ACS.


http://consumerist.com/2012/10/11/how-much-is-the-nfl-profiting-from-all-this-pink-breast-cancer-awareness-merchandise/

[rfranklin]

1. As the recent scandal at Susan Komen showed this is a gravy train for many people...

They cynically exploit the fears and good efforts of millions of people and profit mightily from the proceeds. Unfortunately, this is all too common in the world of fund raising.

[tanyev]

2. It's gotten to where I dread the month long pink assault every October.

Support the paychecks of the Komen board of directors!

[Iggo]

3. I dunno, but...

...it comes out of the 80% Komen spends on salaries, travel, and advertising...oops, I mean "awareness"...and not from the 20% that goes to actual cancer research..