Susan+G.+Komen+What+Are+You+Doing?

SUSAN’S MISSION “ Save lives by meeting the most critical needs in our communities and investing in breakthrough research to prevent and cure breast cancer” 7. With the organization making this promise widely to all its consumers worldwide. It becomes hard just to gain funding from just activism and events like the “ Race for the Cure”, but the organization has set to make It seem that way numerous times. Although Is it this really what they’re setting out to accomplish or is the profit creating a blurred line between consumers and the reality within the organization?

A PROBLEM ? In 2012 Susan G. Komen took the biggest hit they company had seen in years, but it took some risky moves to get its profit back to where they believed it should be. When a highly respected non-profit organization like Susan G. Komen makes the number of moves it has made in the past years with its sponsorships and funding should have raised the eyebrows of numerous consumers, but yet it hasn’t. It’s very strange for an organization like Susan G. Komen to take these sponsorships knowing that their products are seemingly linked to what so many of its consumers are trying to raise funding against. Their work has raised too little number of eyebrows, and their behind the scenes work has gone so unnoticed, but we finally need to look at how Susan G. Komen has moved over the past few years with funding and taking on sponsorships.



THEIR PROGRESS In Susan G Komen tries to reconstruct damaged brand, the organization announced that they were supporters of the planned parenthood, and in the process lost over a $100 million dollars in funding. The organization lost focus and searched for new ways to gain funding. Susan G. Komen sought to rebrand and gain the trust of their customers/consumers, so they rearranged their involvement in certain medical policies such as Planned Parenthood. Susan G. Komen supported their reasoning by stating, “We made the decision to implement stronger performance activity for our grantees and free up dollars for direct services to help vulnerable women” 5. Though they took this stance they continued to lose funding, and still needed new ways to gain money to invest into research. In Wards article, //Susan G. Komen for the cure,// Susan G. Komen was sponsored by Yoplait, and was given exclusiveness of the Susan G Komen ribbon on their yogurt. “One of the first corporate sponsors was Yoplait Yogurt. Yoplait began a Save Lids to Save Lives campaign in 1998. In exchange, Yoplait was allowed to apply the Komen endorsement to Yoplait’s products” 5. Even though this sponsorship has ended you can how the organization goes about trying to raise funding for the company. They are partnering with a company and actually using its name to promote the consumption of the dangerous food linked to cause of cancer. “ Furthermore, Susan G. Komen announced that it was cancelling 50% of its races in 2013 due to the economic downturn and the PP fiasco (Myers & Reynolds, June 10, 2013) so revenues were likely to fall further” 5. //What The Health//, a film that exposes the truth about how dangerous food like chicken and yogurt is hurting breast cancer patients and how Susan G. Komen is taking on a negative look if people really look deeply into the organization. The film states that, “ For women who have had breast cancer, just one serving of whole dairy a day can increase their chance of dying from the disease by 49%, and dying from any disease by 64%” 1 .You’re able to see how Susan G. Komen is taking sponsorship from Yoplait for so long and to this day still do and the damage yogurt does to women with this disease are catastrophic. For an extended period of time this trend within the organization has been kept under rap, the company take a major hit and looks for ways to gain more funding. While doing so they take the chance and take sponsors from companies who products damage the purpose, and the number of consumers who are unaware of the damage being dealt in the process. Some people don’t even see the harm from these sponsors and they need to be aware. Though the purpose of this study is to examine how Susan G. Komen hides all the attention from its dangerous sponsors and keep the good image for its consumers.

SUSAN FOR THE CURE Susan G. Komen takes on huge load that garners so much attention that it distracts consumers from what they do behind the scenes. Ward in her article used Schneible to describe the work Susan G. Komen has done since the organization started, “Since its inception in 1982, Komen had invested approximately $2 billion to help fund breast cancer research, education, advocacy, health services and social support programs in the U.S., and through partnerships in more than 50 countries (Schneible, 2010)” 5. With all the money Susan G. Komen has raised and has invested into researching for a cure people do not invest their time into looking at where the organization takes sponsors from or even how the food they promote breast cancer awareness with, affect them health wise. From breast cancer awareness month in the NFL, NBA, WWE, and their annual races. The amount of work Susan G. Komen puts into these annual races results in many people further advocating for the organization. According to Selleck, “ Each participant ‘s admission and/or pledges provide the basis of the fundraising effort. Equally important to the revenue raised however, is the politicized character of the races that take on many of the sociological characteristics of a march as opposed to a fun run” 4 .These races go miles and raise millions of dollars which Susan G. Komen says they use for health screening and funding research. Throughout the WWE, NBA, NFL, players sport pink gear and clothing to support the number of women who have and are suffering from this disease. According to Medalis of the Wwe Community, 100% of the profits made from gear sold during breast cancer awareness month will be donated to Susan G. Komen to further research. Though according to business insider, very little money goes to research from the NFL during the month of October. Although the funds don’t go to research, the supports paint a good image the and a level of support becomes high during this month. Susan G. Komen teamed up with Formula 1 at the formula Grand Prix race to advocate for breast cancer awareness month. Sean Bratches, Manager Director stated that ““This is an opportunity to use the Formula 1 platforms as a force for social good and rally support for the fight against breast cancer, a disease which affects millions of people every year.” Susan G. Komen continues to push its organization as a promising one at events that help gain it good attention, it helps people not focus on what they are really doing. The root of the success Susan G. Komen has produced, has been because of activism, so many people come together to push for one goal, raise money for the cure. “The Komen Network has raised 1.3 billion dollars for research, education, and health services. Today Komen for the Cure has members and conducts activities in over 50 countries” 4. When Susan G. Komen is able to do so much and raise so much funding for research and other beneficial things, no one will ever look for the bad unless it is brought up to them. As long as the organization is able to continue to raise the funding it has been able to raise consumer will continue to support it, and no one will ever want to dig up the dirt hidden by Susan G. Komen. The pink ribbons, seen widely on numerous products in stores such as cereal, yogurt, and candy are numerous products bought by consumers who are looking not to only support the cause but help fund it. According to Sulleck in her article, “ it symbolizes the corporate beneficence of Kellogg‘s or Tide, but because it reminds us all of the mothers, daughters, sisters, friends who have been afflicted by this disease and those who run or walk on their behalf or perhaps in their memory every year.” For the number of people affected, this show of activism helps continue to build Susan’s image. During Breast cancer awareness, these pink ribbons are seen everywhere on every product in the grocery store, it helps show that Susan is providing activism in many forms to lead the way to gain funding and profit. Ward in her article used Schneible to describe the work Susan G. Komen has done since the organization started, “Since its inception in 1982, Komen had invested approximately $2 billion to help fund breast cancer research, education, advocacy, health services and social support programs in the U.S., and through partnerships in more than 50 countries (Schneible, 2010)” 5.

THE MISSION Susan G. Komen wants to fulfill its promise given to all the fighters, supporters and believers that all the races, and events they host will gain funding to invest in finding the cure for breast cancer. People wll continue to support because Susan G. Komen has been the leading organization in raising funds for the disease itself. Ward expressed that in her article by stating, ” As of March 2012, Komen was listed on Charity Navigator with the site's highest rating of four stars (Charity Navigator, 2012). Komen was the number one organization to which Americans said they were most likely to donate for the second year in a row (Harris Interactive EquiTrend Study 2010). Similar studies showed Komen as one of the most trusted non-profit brand names in the U.S. (Joslyn, 2010).” 5. Susan G. Komen has gained the trust so many people and it has to protect its name and its image by continuing to push activism from all its followers worldwide. media type="youtube" key="UipgvYvhmvI" width="560" height="315"

__WORKS CITED__ //(1) What The Health.// Kip Anderson.. Netflix.2015. Film (2)Osland, Asbjorn and Nanette Clinch. "Susan G. Komen Tries to Reconstruct Damaged Brand." //Journal of Critical Incidents//, vol. 6, Oct. 2013, pp. 141-144. EBSCO//host//, ezproxy.gsu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=92526913&site=eds-live&scope=site. (3)Madalis, Kara A. “John Cena Talks about His Involvement with Susan G. Komen for the Cure.” //WWE Community//, community.wwe.com/hope/news/john-cena-talks-about-his-I nvolvement-susan-g-komen-cure. Think Pink." //American Salon//, vol. 139, no. 10, Oct. 2016, pp. 110-112. EBSCO//host//, zproxy.gsu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=118440524&site=eds-live&scope=site.

(4)Selleck, Laurie Gilmore. "Pretty in Pink: The Susan G. Komen Network and the Branding of the Breast Cancer Cause." //Nordic Journal of English Studies//, vol. 9, no. 3, Nov. 2010, pp. 119-138. EBSCO//host//, ezproxy.gsu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=59806898&site=eds-live&scope=site. (5)"Thomas, Joe G. and Cheryl B. Ward. "Susan G. Komen - for the Cure." //Journal of Critical Incidents //, vol. 6, Oct. 2013, pp. 152-155. EBSCO //host//, ezproxy.gsu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=92526916&site=eds-live&scop (6)Is the Cancer Cartel Preventing Progress?." //Health & Stress //, no. 8, Aug. 2011, pp. 1-17. EBSCO //host //, ezproxy.gsu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=c9h&AN=63993309&site=eds-live&scope=site. (7) “Our Bold Goal.” // Susan G. Komen® //, ww5.komen.org/ourboldgoal/?utm_source=Komen.org&utm_medium=GlobalHeaderCTA&utm_campaign=MoreThanPink. e=site.

JanetBrunoMD. “Is Meat Consumption Linked To Breast Cancer?” //YouTube //, YouTube, 12 Oct. 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=UipgvYvhmvI.1