Posted on October 4, 2021

By Krystal Redman, Executive Director

Think Before You Pink® 2021 is here and this year we’re telling Susan G. Komen®: Stop Banking on Breast Cancer! 

Susan G Komen® and Bank of America have created and are cross-promoting a “Pink Ribbon Banking Program,” made up of a credit card and a debit card each emblazoned with the notorious pink ribbon. Every purchase made through the Pink Ribbon Banking Program goes toward the $1.5 million that Bank of America has pledged to Susan G. Komen® between 2021 and 2023.

Here’s the problem: This is blatant pinkwashing! These cards use the goodwill of the breast cancer community to increase Bank of America’s profits, an institution that funds the cancer-causing fossil fuel industry. 

To take action: 

  1. Read the full campaign details on our website.
  2. Join our kick-off action: a week-long social media storm directed at Susan G. Komen!

Share this graphic on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with the instructions below:

Share this graphic on Facebook! You can use the following text, or make it your own: Susan G. Komen®: You cannot claim to want to end breast cancer while the profits generated by your Pink Ribbon Banking Program are used by Bank of America to fund the cancer-causing fossil fuel industry!

Tweet the graphic at Susan G. Komen® with this pre-written tweet or change it up to make it your own!

Download the share graphic directly, share it out across any of your social media platforms, including Instagram, and tag @SusanGKomen and @BankofAmerica!

Let’s tell them that we see the Pink Ribbon Banking Program for what it is: pinkwashing!

Breast Cancer Action has long called out the hypocrisy in the breast cancer industry. Susan G. Komen, one of the largest breast cancer organizations in the world, has a history of minimizing the environmental harms linked to breast cancer—and their pinkwashing partners like Bank of America are fueling the problem.

Bank of America is a top financial contributor to the fossil fuel industry, an industry that increases our risk for breast cancer through environmental exposures produced all along the fossil fuel continuum. In 2020 alone, Bank of America invested over $42.1 billion in fossil fuel projects.

We’re telling Komen: Stop banking on breast cancer and divest from pinkwashing! Phase-out the Pink Ribbon Banking Program with Bank of America. 

The Pink Ribbon Banking Program is a distraction from the financial institution’s continued support of fossil fuel projects that proliferate a legacy of climate destruction, environmental racism, and public health negligence.

Susan G. Komen claims to be “where the end of breast cancer begins,” yet the Pink Ribbon Banking Program props up an institution that is a top funder of fossil fuel industry, an industry that increases breast cancer risk and puts profit before people.

This week as we launch the campaign, we need you to help make some noise with us through our social media storm! Tell Susan G. Komen®: Stop banking on breast cancer and divest from pinkwashing! It’s time to phase out the Pink Ribbon Banking Program with Bank of America.

And stay tuned, we’ll be releasing different ways to take action throughout the month of October.