Day 26: Carpet Padding and Mattress Pads

I feel kind of bad now that I put hardwood floors down in my new house.  I missed the perfect opportunity to spread breast cancer awareness through the pad under my carpet.

A big thanks to Zara, my 5th grade BFF, who thanks to the magic of Facebook has been reading my blog! 

Mohawk Carpet's "Decorate for the Cure" will be donating $100,000 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.   There is a very nice video and some information about how the special carpet cushion can not only extend the life of your carpet, but also the life of someone with breast cancer.  Ok, I'm exaggerating, but how are they not implying that??  This they actually do say:  "Mohawk SmartCushion™ protects your carpet- and your loved ones"

Is there no line?  Carpet padding?  The stuff that gets pulled up and thrown out by curbs when people realize they should have tiled or put wood floors down in the first place? 

Well, in case you thought that was the line, you have to see the flyer that Summer Morris sent over:

With all the pink and ribbons all over this circular, you would think that Mattress One was announcing the cure for breast cancer.  But, alas, no, they are announcing the $50 donation they will be making to Komen as part of your mattress purchase. 

Again, the $50 tax-deductable donation that THEY will be making, once you give them your money.  Good, job, Mattress One.  You make the difference.

Day 25: Breasts...chicken breasts, that is

Thanks to Linda for spotting this little gem.  Breast for breasts...these microwave-ready chicken nuggets are part of Fast Fixin's "Going Pink" campaign. 


Nothing on this website indicates HOW MUCH or WHERE the donation goes.  Oh, but get this...if you want to write a survivor story or a note about breast cancer, you can do that on their Facebook or Twitter.  That's right, you can go tell a personal story about your's or someone else's health on a FROZEN FOOD COMPANY'S Facebook page. 

I just had to check this out, http://www.facebook.com/ClickIt4BC

I guess this is Fast Fixin's Facebook page?  And apparently they are promoting a Twitter party to talk about breast cancer?  Are they serious?  I feel like if and when I attend my first "Twitter Party" it is not going to be hosted by a frozen food company.  No offense, frozen food companies.

To their credit, although the first lady I spoke with at Fast Fixin' had absolutely NO idea what I was talking about, she did deliver the message and I did get a phone call back.  Fast Fixin' donations an unnamed percentage to the National Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  Apparently the donation increases with each bag.  Unfortunately, I screened this call and didn't have a chance to get the total donation amount or anything like that but maybe for next year!

I did take this opportunity to google "processed" and "fried" meats and "cancer risk" and there is no denying that fried and grilled food both present a cancer risk.  I decided to not get too far in to the nutritional issues here but what I REALLY came across was this:

I'm almost positive that KFC is NOT doing this promotion this year.  Perhaps due to the quite obvious irony that fried chicken is clearly related to MANY health issues, not the least of which is cancer.  The outpouring of objections and bad publicity was so overwhelming that KFC seems to have pulled the plug on this one.

They did defend themselves by saying that you can always choose the grilled chicken.  Yah, because plenty of Americans are going to KFC for the GRILLED chicken.

Jerks.

To be honest, I'd go in to KFC to find out if it is going on this year, but I'm quite addicted to KFC mashed potatoes and gravy so I have to try to limit my visits to once or twice per year.  Sorry.

Day 24: Insulated cups

I'm not going to lie, I love Tervis Tumblers.  No condensation, they can advertise your favorite team/animal/cause, the name of the product is alliterative.  What's not to love?  So, who could possibly be surprised when Tervis Tumblers jumped in to the equally popular pink ribbon game? 

 The campaign, called "You Buy Pink We Give Green", purports to give 5% of their sales to "finding a cure for breast cancer".  No organization indicated and no minimum or maximum donation.  Wow, Komen and/or Breast Cancer Research Foundation, you need to get on top of Tervis!

So, of course, I contacted Tervis to get the story.  I LOVE online chat windows with customer service.  "Jeni" was less than helpful.

Since I'm still holding my breath to hear back from a few other companies, I'll just add Tervis to the list.

Around the corner on the other side of Bed, Bath and Beyond was another hotbed of breast cancer supporting insulated cups.

One that looks like a to-go coffee cup and the other that looks like a to-go plastic cup, these "Copco" products state (on a big pink ribbon tag) that a portion of the proceeds go to support the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Since a there was no amount stated, I decided to give Copco a call.  The operator transferred me to Denise in Customer Service.  I explained what I was looking for to Denise and  she had absolutely no knowledge of any product that had a pink ribbon or was involved in supporting breast cancer at all.  She offered to transfer me to someone who could help which promptly sent me to the operator.  I explained (again) what I was looking for and...well, you guessed it, she transferred me back to Denise.  HELLO again Denise, I'm sure you had hoped I got bored and moved on by now!

I was persistent until Denise offered to contact the product manager and get back with me.  I'm perplexed about why someone in customer service would have no familiarity with this program, but, I do give Denise credit for calling me back.  Allegedly, 5% of the net profits goes to the BCRF.

So, again, if you think about a cup that costs $4.99, let's just pretend that the company is making 50% profit.  So, $2.50 in this case.  For each cup, the company alleges to donate $.12.  Is it really worth saturating an entire month with pink ribbons for this pittance?  Not to mention that by November 1st, these are all going to be on clearance so I bet that cost reduction is going to cut in to the net proceeds on this product, anyway.  It's not like they are going to keep pink ribbon stuff on the shelf...as it is I'm sure they are itching to put the Christmas stuff out, anyway.

At least with Christmas, they don't have to pretend to be helping a cause.

Day 23: "Mailing" stuff, whatever that is

Thanks to another tip from Matt Bothwell (and my newly assumed duty as mailroom clerk for my dad), I made my way to the Jacksonville Beach Post Office.  A small pang of guilt hit as a I walked past Bailey's.  Sorry, Bailey's...I'm not cheating on you, I'm just not that in to you right now...

Anyway, the Post Office absolutely looks like a pink ribbon disaster:
 

 Pink ribbons made out of tissue paper, pink ribbon pens, pink tulle (gross).  I'm so glad the Postal Service has plenty of time and extra money sitting around to make this all possible. 

They are selling these little signs where you can make a donation and write your name (I guess?) and they'll hang it up on the counter.  Here's a rough version of the conversation:

Mail lady:  Here's your certified letter.  Would you like to donate to the fight against breast cancer?

Me:  (Lying)  Mmm, maybe.  What organization does it benefit?

Mail lady:  A cure for breast cancer.

Me:  No, I mean, specifically, who gets this money?

Mail lady:  I'm not sure, but I'm sure it is someone good.

Me:  I bet. 

For may years, the post office has been selling stamps to fund breast cancer research. 

The Mail Lady was pushing these stamps, big time.  For only $.55 a stamp, you can get a first class stamp AND make an $.11 donation.  So, imagine this.  I mail about 3 things per month (maybe), so across an entire year, I can be making a whopping $3.96 donation!!!  I can't imagine how much cancer that is going to cure!!!!

Even though the Mail Lady didn't know, I did some independent research to see who was going to benefit from my $3.96.  It turns out, the Breast Cancer Research Stamp funds the National Cancer Institute which is under the NIH.  You know what else funds the NIH?  YOUR TAXES.  Wow, government, thanks for coming up with a spiffy new way to get my money.  You are the BEST!

In case these stamps aren't rocking your world, go on to Zazzle and get one with a super classy saying such as "Support my Rack" for the low bargain cost of over $1.00 per $.44 stamp, with no indication of any of it going to any charity. 

You can even get a personalized address stamp that does absolutely nothing to fight breast cancer other than display a pink ribbon everytime you reach for it to stamp and mail your medical bills. 

I mean, so many options.  It almost makes me want to go back to "mailing" things. 

Day 22: The Saturday paper

I'll admit, I stopped subscribing to the Florida Times Union (or "Times Useless" as my dad would call it) somewhere about the time that Calvin & Hobbes went out of print.  But, I was a subscriber long enough to anticipate the annual pink issue.  The pink edition comes out in conjunction with Jacksonville's Race for the Cure.  Sure enough, as I walked through the lobby of One Ocean on my way to Matt and Jeanne's wedding, I saw the object of my desires. 

This issue is loaded up with not only stories of survivorship and early detection, but pretty much every hospital has a full page pink ad.  Oh, and there is also an article about the incredible cost of treating breast cancer.  Coinkydink? 

I mean, I'd really hate to think that anyone is looking to financially gain from this disease. 

Anyway, if you'd like to see some of the stories, visit http://jacksonville.com/pinkribbon.  Or don't.  I don't care.

I e-mailed the paper to find out how much more it costs to print a pink edition.  I'll keep you posted if/when they respond!

Day 21: Lighters

I was perusing the Ace Hardware the other day in search of a rake.  Apparently raking is something you are supposed to do when you have a yard.  News to me but I guess I can give it a whirl.  I really had not intended to see any pink ribbon stuff at the hardware store, but I gave up being suprised by this sort of thing a long time ago:

I looked up BIC and there is absolutely nothing on their website (that I can find) that gives any more detail about this quite special grill and candle lighter.  The one place I DID find info was on the Susan G. Komen site.  BIC is a corporate partner and will give up to $300,000 from the sale of of about 10 items to Komen (see list below).

Look closely at this photo.  It pretty clearly says National Breast Cancer Foundation which is an entirely separate organization than Komen.  Huh.  I hope they send their big fat check to the right place. 

The list (stay tuned for "Correction Tape" and "Shavers" fight breast cancer!)

Included in the program are the following specially marked BIC items:
BIC Atlantis® Retractable Ball Pen
Sheaffer® Sentinel® Pink Ball Pen
BIC® ReAction® Pencil
BIC Mark-It™ Color Collection Permanent Marker
BIC® Wite-Out® Brand EZ Correct® Correction Tape
BIC® Pencil
BIC® Triumph® 537RT
BIC® Brite Liner® Highlighter
BIC® Luminere® Candle Lighter
BIC Soleil Twilight Shaver
BIC Silky Touch Shaver

Day 20: Cheap Wine

A big thanks to Keri Hughes, one of my former ACS compatriots (pretty sure we've work pink boas and wigs together at one point or another), for sending me this one.

Mmm, white zinfandel, YUM.  I will have to say that a certain amount of wine certainly helped my mom deal with the effects of a breast cancer diagnosis, but I can't say that I'm totally on board with the idea of it curing or preventing breast cancer.  There are a huge number of studies linking red wine and cancer prevention (phew) but I can't find any linking white zinfandel to anything other than people who don't really like to drink real wine. 

Sutter Home's program is called "Capsules for Hope".  They want you to pull the safety seal off of your bottle of wine, mail it in, and Sutter Home will donate $1.00 to the City of Hope.  So, again, spend $.44 so that a company can make a $1.00 donation in their own name.

Brilliant, Sutter Home.