In a way it's comparable to a corporate identity thing: an organization uses a symbol that people associate automatically with a slogan or the organization itself.

And if comes to cancer, I think all of us will automatically think of the pink ribbon, a cancer symbol that stands for everything related to breast cancer. The pink ribbon is something not only the women who have been identified with breast cancer can identify with. I think by now it has been grown into something that is much bigger than that. It's a marketing tool.

And not that there is anything wrong with the fact that it has evolved from a symbol for cancer into a money making machine. It’s just than in my humble opinion there is line between showing empathy, sympathy or unity and plastering every single available spot on earth with the pink ribbon. It is not my intention to offend people with this statement. But I simply sometimes question the sincerity behind the approach, that’s all.

My wife has breast cancer; she was diagnosed with a Stage 1 poorly differentiated ductal carcinoma, Grade III, in March of 2009. So yes, I am very familiar with the topic and everything that’s going on in the world of breast cancer. And on top of that, I was diagnosed with Renal Cell Carcinoma only seven months after we received my wife’s cancer news. By the way, are there any other cancer symbols available than the pink ribbon that represents the breast cancer fraction?

What about a lung cancer symbol, liver cancer symbol or a colon cancer symbol. Hey, and don’t forget the kidney cancer, please!

The reason why everybody can only think of one cancer sign associated with cancer is the fact that a large part of the money spent in cancer research is for breast cancer. And I don’t want to make any accusations, not at all, but I really wonder if all the listings and ads we see online that prominently use the pink ribbon are really legit. Maybe they are I don’t know, but I do suspect, that there are some snipers out there who just want to jump on the money train.

And this exactly what makes me so mad. At this point nobody knows anymore, if there is an honest person or organization that is truly affiliated with breast cancer in one way or another, behind the popular breast cancer symbol. So I came to ignore it. If I really want to support breast cancer research there are many other ways available to me, rather than plugging in my credit card number for an online donation that might end up in a scam’s wallet.