For me, here, “raise awareness” has become more of a cynical marketing device than a useful health movement. “Raise awareness” is what corporations say about a pink or pink-ribboned item when they want to sell it to the breast cancer community but they don’t intend to give a dime to a breast cancer program.

And, I definitely personally know people who are more interested in collecting pink tchotchkes than in actual health, including their own.

It’s as though pink ribbons have taken on a life of their own, orthogonal to the issue that inspired them.

Ultimately, I guess, my problem is that all “breast cancer awareness” is not created equal. Criticism (though not mockery) of “awareness” seems important to me, so I’d want to be careful that we put neither “awareness” for its own sake, nor ribbons, on too high a pedestal.

http://thinkbeforeyoupink.org/Pages/CriticalQuestions.html