NOT a girl thing!
NOT a girl thing! My mother, who has had breast cancer twice by the way, has just received a letter from Cancer Research UK in an ‘oh so pretty’ pink envelope with the words “IT’S A GIRL THING”.
Obviously it’s soliciting donations. I accept they have to get their money from somewhere and I’m not getting into the whole political thing about who should be supplying funds, but I seriously object to the whole ‘girl thing’ slogan.
As we all know, it’s quite a ‘boy thing’ as well! Admitedly they do mention men at the very bottom of the letter but I find the whole thing revolting.
Let me make myself clear, I have no problem with Tshirts, merchandise etc. I’m not bothered about that ASDA campaign but I do find this offensive from someone who ought to know better.
… and what about ‘women’ - at the age of 44 I don’t consider myself a ‘girl’
I did take offence at the Asda Tickled pink’ campaign. Not at first, and i confess i thought there was a lot of fuss over nothing much as every fundraining campaign has to be eyecatching - plus its not really aimed at us as we are already ‘aware’. However, this weekend i visited the store for something. The message really was that BC was ‘fun’ and Tickled Pink really did mean very pleased! Felt like crying, which is not like me AT ALL. I came home and emailed my thoughts to BCC and to Asda. Asda have given me the courtesy of a reply, but not heard from BCC.
I see the slogan for Boots’ BC fundraising is ‘Be up front’. Their magazine has info about BC, and also lists 10 in-store products from which funds go to BCC. I commend them in that they list the cost of the products and HOW MUCH IS DONATED TO BCC out of the purchase price.
Well done Boots!
(The donations range from 100% for the pin-badge and 100% for the bracelet, to 20%, 15% and 10% for other goods.)
Thanks for that Hi there
My house received the “pink” letter as well. As you say, it’s not just a girl thing, as I know.
These letters just appear indiscriminately and I wonder how many people they upset with their appearance.
Thanks again for pointing out it’s not just a girl thing. As usual, as you say, their is cursory mention of men in the text, something which BCC managed to overcome with the production of the dedicated resoruce for men - such a good thing.
Take care, keep well and best wishes
Bill
Girl thing, boy thing…or what? I always thought of BC as a mutated DNA thing.
Seriously, some of these campaigns can be upsetting. In the middle of the months of chemo treatment I was accosted at Edinburgh Waverley railway station by a young women trying to get me to give money (by direct debit) to one of the big cancer charities - very much the enthusiastic hard sell along the lines of ‘give money because cancer might happen to you’. I nearly said something rude and I nearly pulled off my wig to show my beautiful but hairless head underneath. I decided in the end that she was very young, wasn’t being deliberately upsetting and it wasn’t fair to berate her, so I didn’t do any of these things.
I also have to bite my tongue when coming across organisations who don’t agree with any animal research whatsoever. I know that I am alive today because of animal research. I’m all for reducing the amount of animal reseach and using tissue experiments where possible but I don’t think we can do away with it altogether.
Why is pink always associated with girls? When my daughter was born I was given a pink card with her weight on it. Guess what colour card the boy babies’ mothers got? I did ask one of the midwives why there was such a stereotypical response even for new-born babies and the midwife looked at me in surprise; she’d never thought about it before.
Best wishes,
Sue
For me the problem is I don’t want to walk around shops and be reminded of cancer everywhere. I know that once the chemo is finished I will be able to cope with it better. At the moment everytime I turn on the TV or go to get a loaf of bread I am faced with cancer.
I also agree that given the amount of men being dx this ‘It’s a girl thing’ shows a huge lack of awareness.
Take care everyone
Eithne
Couldn’t bring myself to open the pink envelope- I’m 74- some girl! dilly
I also received the pink letter recently. Shame they didn’t bother to look up who they were sending it to, prehaps then they’d know i already give £2 a month and have done so for the last 3 years from the same name and address!! could have saved themselves some stationary/posting costs.
CRUK I too regularly donate to Cancer Research UK whenever they send me a letter, but the pink letter was mass-mailed, with no name on it, and with no checking to see whether we were already donors.
As it was extra to the usual, I just took out the free pink pen, and put the letter on the re-cycle pile.
David S
Hi all thanks for replying.
Just wanted to say, Mum’s letter was addressed to her and has her name printed on a direct debit form so I shall be shredding this, make sure you shred yours if it’s the same.
Health and Happiness to all of you,
Valerie x
p.s. she didn’t even get the free pink pen!
pen… neither did I Valerie. hmmph.