Peeling Back Pink Lids November 1, 2006
Posted by threadingwater in Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaign, feminism, politics.trackback
I blame it on Donald Rumsfeld. You know, ask yourself a question - then answer it just as if you’ve really considered all the possible angles there might be to a particular issue. “Do I think the Iraqis will ever be capable of governing themselves? Why, yes I do. Now just back off!” (’cause I ask the questions at my press conferences, not you)
Beautiful. Doubtless one more Republican tactic bequeathed by Karl Rove and now employed in official corporate PR correspondence. “Hello, Yoplait here, and we’ll be asking the questions thankyouverymuch.”
Yoplait’s “Save Lids to Save Lives” campaign is well known to a great many consumers and considered tops (no pun intended) amongst a crowded field of cause-related marketers for breast cancer. It works like this: For every pink foil lid from a container of yogurt that is saved, washed, dried and mailed back to Yoplait, the corporation will donate ten cents to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Ten cents.
Wondering why Yoplait requires consumers to play along in this little game with scraps of colored foil? Maybe you’re thinking to yourself, “why doesn’t the company just make a direct contribution instead of tying their largesse to my quotient for tedium?”
No need to ask. In a letter filled with Rumsfeldian-type obsequiesness, Yoplait replies:
Why do we encourage consumers to participate? Because we also believe that consumer participation has a benefit of its own. It gives people an additional avenue to be involved and to help. It promotes awareness, which hopefully advances education. Participation and awareness has its own rewards, in our view.
So then, Big Daddy corporation knows what’s best for you, little consumer. Washing and drying all those pink lids is just one more way for you to feel involved, helpful. Buy our product = Feeling Good. Collect and clean the lids = Feeling Better. Stick four lids in an envelope with 39 cents postage = Feeling Super Great! See? “Participation and awareness has its own rewards . . . ,” particularly for our bottom line, and for our parent company, General Mills.
Hmmmm . . . Think General Mills has any vested interest in keeping consumers focused on finding a cure, rather than fingering a cause for rising rates of breast cancer? Especially if that cause were found to involve agricultural pesticides and herbicides?
Oh, what’s wrong with cynical ol’ me? I just can’t seem to stay perky and positive about breast cancer.
And usually those kinds of campaigns have an upper limit, ‘we’ll donate up to $XX’
It’s all an awful lot like the yellow=troop support. They’ve got the right colored ribbon but what support exactly??
Nothing wrong with you, it’s everyone else.
And busy work for women. Don’t get me started.
Yoplait–don’t tell me what to eat. Everyone else–I’m fortunate enough to be able to buy organic food, most of the time. I avoid red meat and eat specialty or organic poultry and wild salmon. I live in a pretty clean neighbourhood, as far as air quality goes (partly that comes with living not far from the ocean, and all those ocean breezes) and have access to local produce, fruit and vegetables.
What we need, in part, is organic food that doesn’t cost about 30% more than other food–or for the pesticide addicts to stop spraying our food.
Threading Water, as the Australians say, “Good on you”. From Canada I say, “Keep up the good fight.”
why not just toss the lids and save water! send a check to yoplait for the amount of pink lids you bought so they can send in the money for you annonymously or just send the check to the Susan G. Komen foundation directly and save all that postage for cancer research,