Greed, Cancer and Pink KFC Buckets

1/1/24, 3:54 PM Greed, Cancer and Pink KFC Buckets | HuffPost Life
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THE BLOG KFC DOUBLE DOWN BREAST CANCER
Greed, Cancer and Pink KFC Buckets

Pardon me for being cynical, but I have to ask, if Komen is going to partner
with KFC, why not take it a step further and partner with a cigarette company?
By John Robbins 358, Contributor

Author, 'The New Good Life: Living Better Than Ever in an Age of Less'
May 17, 2010, 09:51 AM EDT

Updated Nov 17, 2011
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work
and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/breast-cancer-awareness-g_b_577574 1/29
We live in a world of profound contradictions. Some things are Support

Support Us Us
just unbelievably strange. At times I feel like I've found a way
to adapt to the weirdness of the world, and then along comes
something that just boggles my mind.
The largest grassroots breast cancer advocacy group in the

world, a group called "Susan G. Komen for the Cure," has now
partnered with the fast food chain KFC in a national "Buckets
for the Cure" campaign. The program began last month and
runs through the end of May.
KFC is taking every chance it can manufacture to trumpet the

fact that it will donate 50 cents to Komen for every pink bucket
of chicken sold.
For its part, Komen is announcing on its website that "KFC

and Susan G. Komen for the Cure are teaming up ... to ...
spread educational messaging via a major national campaign
which will reach thousands of communities served by nearly
5,000 KFC restaurants."
Educational messaging, indeed. How often do you think this

"messaging" provides information about the critical
importance a healthy diet plays in maintaining a healthy
weight and preventing cancer? How often do you think it
refers in any way to the many studies that, according to the
National Cancer Institute's website, "have shown that an
increased risk of developing colorectal, pancreatic, and breast
cancer is associated with high intakes of well-done, fried or
barbecued meats?"
If you guessed zero, you're right.
Meanwhile, the American Institute for Cancer Research

reports that 60 to 70 percent of all cancers can be prevented
with lifestyle changes. Their number one dietary
recommendation is to: "Choose predominantly plant-based Support

Support Us Us
diets rich in a variety of vegetables and fruits, legumes and
minimally processed starchy staple foods." Does that sound
like pink buckets of fried chicken?
Pardon me for being cynical, but I have to ask, if Komen is

going to partner with KFC, why not take it a step further and
partner with a cigarette company? They could sell pink
packages of cigarettes, donating a few cents from each pack
while claiming "each pack you smoke brings us closer to the
day cancer is vanquished forever."
Whose brilliant idea was it that buying fried chicken by the

bucket is an effective way to fight breast cancer? One breast
cancer advocacy group, Breast Cancer Action, thinks the
Komen/KFC campaign is so egregious that they call it
"pinkwashing," another sad example of commercialism draped
in pink ribbons. "Make no mistake," they say, "every pink
bucket purchase will do more to benefit KFC's bottom line
than it will to cure breast cancer."
One thing is hard to dispute. In partnering with KFC, Susan B.

Komen for the Cure has shown itself to be numbingly oblivious
to the role of diet in cancer prevention.
Of course it's not hard to understand KFC's motives. They

want to look good. But recent publicity the company has been
getting hasn't been helping. For one thing, the company keeps
taking hits for the unhealthiness of its food. Just last month,
when KFC came out with its new Double Down sandwiches.
The products were derided by just about every public health
organization for their staggering levels of salt, calories and
artery-clogging fat.
Then there's the squeamish matter of the treatment of the

birds who end up in KFC's buckets, pink or otherwise. People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has an entire Support

Support Us Us
website devoted to what they call Kentucky Fried Cruelty, but
you don't have to be an animal activist to be horrified by how
the company treats chickens, if you lift the veil of the
company's PR and see what actually takes place.
When PETA sent investigators with hidden cameras into a

KFC "Supplier of the Year" slaughterhouse in Moorefield, West
Virginia, what they found was enough to make KFC choke on
its own pink publicity stunts. Workers were caught on video
stomping on chickens, kicking them and violently slamming
them against floors and walls. Workers were also filmed
ripping the animals' beaks off, twisting their heads off, spitting
tobacco into their eyes and mouths, spray-painting their faces,
and squeezing their bodies so hard that the birds expelled
feces -- all while the chickens were still alive.
Dan Rather echoed the views of many who saw the footage
when he said on the CBS Evening News, "There's no mistaking
what the video depicts: cruelty to animals, chickens horribly
mistreated before they're slaughtered for a fast-food chain."
KFC, naturally, did everything they could to keep the footage

from being aired, but their efforts failed. In fact, the video
from the investigation ended up being broadcast by TV
stations around the world, as well as on all three national
evenings news shows, Good Morning America, and every one
of the major cable news networks. Plus, more than a million
people subsequently watched the footage on PETA's website.
It wasn't just animal activists who condemned the fast food

chain for the level of animal cruelty displayed at KFC's
"Supplier of the Year" slaughterhouse. Dr. Temple Grandin,
perhaps the meat industry's leading farmed-animal welfare
expert, said, "The behavior of the plant employees was
atrocious." Dr. Ian Duncan, a University of Guelph professor
of applied ethology and an original member of KFC's own
animal-welfare advisory council, wrote, "This tape depicts Support

Support Us Us
scenes of the worst cruelty I have ever witnessed against
chickens ... and it is extremely hard to accept that this is
occurring in the United States of America."
KFC claims, on its website, that its animal-welfare advisory

council "has been a key factor in formulating our animal
welfare program." But Dr. Duncan, along with five other
former members of this advisory council, say otherwise. They
all resigned in disgust over the company's refusal to take
animal welfare seriously. Adele Douglass, one of those who
resigned, said in an SEC filing reported on by the Chicago
Tribune that KFC "never had any meetings. They never asked
any advice, and then they touted to the press that they had this
animal-welfare advisory committee. I felt like I was being
used."
You can see why KFC would be eager to jump on any chance to
improve its public image, and why the company would want to
capitalize on any opportunity to associate itself in the public
mind with the fight against breast cancer. What's far more
mystifying is why an organization with as much public trust as
Susan B. Komen for the Cure would jeopardize public
confidence in its authenticity. As someone once said, it takes a
lifetime to build a reputation, but only 15 minutes to lose it.
If you want to support an organization fighting breast cancer,

you might want to know about the little known but
extraordinary Pine Street Foundation. While everyone wants
to detect breast cancer as early as possible, the Pine Street
Foundation has been developing a remarkable alternative to
mammograms. Susan B. Komen for the Cure, you may know,
has been one of the foremost proponents of mammograms,
suggesting their use for women as young as 25. But
mammograms involve subjecting a woman's breast to
radiation, and so if repeated too often actually raise the risk of
breast cancer.
In a large international collaboration, the Pine Street Support

Support Us Us
Foundation has been studying the ability of dogs to use their
remarkable sense of smell for the early detection of lung and
breast cancer. The work is based on the fact that cancer cells
emit different metabolic waste products than normal cells, and
the differences between these can be detected by a dog's keen
sense of smell, even in the early stages of the disease. So far,
the dogs' ability to correctly identify or rule out lung and
breast cancer, at both early and late stages, has been around
90 percent -- approximately the same accuracy rate as
mammograms, with none of the radiation. In one study, for
example, involving more than 12,000 separate scent trials,
dogs were able to identify lung and breast cancer patients by
smelling samples of their breath. The dogs' performance was
not affected by the disease stage of cancer patients, nor by
their age, smoking or recently eaten food.
I've met the dogs involved in these studies (Portuguese water

dogs, and yellow and black Labrador retrievers) and I know
the people who have designed and undertaken these studies,
and I've been impressed. Unfortunately, it is not yet possible to
be "screened" by the dogs to see if you have cancer, but there is
every hope that the concepts explored in this research will lead
in the future to cancer screening methods that are more
accurate than mammograms, and less harmful.
The work of the Pine Street Foundation is a good example of

the many new and hopeful possibilities that are emerging.
Every day there are additional people and more groups blazing
a path to healthy food, real prevention, and less toxic
approaches to treatment. The Cancer Project, for example,
promotes cancer prevention, particular by advocating for
nutritional approaches that reduce cancer risk. Breast Cancer
Action carries the voices of people affected by breast cancer to
inspire and compel the changes necessary to end the breast
cancer epidemic. And Beyond Pesticides works to protect
public health and the environment while leading the transition Support
Support Us Us
to a less toxic world.
Vibrant, grounded and inspiring, these groups and many

others like them are pointing in a healthy and sane direction.
In a time when KFC has become the poster company for
pinkwashing, they stand before us as true examples of The
New Good Life.
************
John Robbins' newest book, The New Good Life: Living Better
Than Ever in an Age of Less, is available from Amazon.com
and will be available in stores beginning May 25th. For more
information about John Robbins and his work, visit here.
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1/1/24, 3:54 PM Greed, Cancer and Pink KFC Buckets | HuffPost Life

THE BLOG KFC DOUBLE DOWN BREAST CANCER

By John Robbins 358, Contributor

May 17, 2010, 09:51 AM EDT

We live in a world of profound contradictions. Some things are Support

The largest grassroots breast cancer advocacy group in the

KFC is taking every chance it can manufacture to trumpet the

For its part, Komen is announcing on its website that "KFC

Educational messaging, indeed. How often do you think this

If you guessed zero, you're right.

Meanwhile, the American Institute for Cancer Research

recommendation is to: "Choose predominantly plant-based Support

Pardon me for being cynical, but I have to ask, if Komen is

Whose brilliant idea was it that buying fried chicken by the

One thing is hard to dispute. In partnering with KFC, Susan B.

Of course it's not hard to understand KFC's motives. They

Then there's the squeamish matter of the treatment of the

for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has an entire Support

When PETA sent investigators with hidden cameras into a

KFC, naturally, did everything they could to keep the footage

It wasn't just animal activists who condemned the fast food

animal-welfare advisory council, wrote, "This tape depicts Support

KFC claims, on its website, that its animal-welfare advisory

If you want to support an organization fighting breast cancer,

In a large international collaboration, the Pine Street Support

I've met the dogs involved in these studies (Portuguese water

The work of the Pine Street Foundation is a good example of

Vibrant, grounded and inspiring, these groups and many

A No-B.S. Guide To Life

HuffPost is your trusted source to help you lead a better life.

We're determined to keep HuffPost Life — and every other

John Robbins 358, Contributor

Do you have info to share with HuffPost reporters? Here’s how.

POPULAR IN THE COMMUNITY

FROM OUR PARTNER

The Nicest Gifts You Can Get With Two-Day Shipping

STYLE & BEAUTY

A Reminder Of The Best And Worst TikTok Beauty Support

FOOD & DRINK

FOOD & DRINK

STYLE & BEAUTY

FOOD & DRINK

STYLE & BEAUTY

FOOD & DRINK

FOOD & DRINK

HOME & LIVING

FOOD & DRINK

FOOD & DRINK

HOME & LIVING

ENTERTAINMENT LIFE Support

VOICES HUFFPOST PERSONAL

USER AGREEMENT COMMENT POLICY

DMCA POLICY HUFFPOST PRESS ROOM

ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT PRIVACY POLICY

CONSENT PREFERENCES DO NOT SELL OR SHARE MY PERSONAL INFORMATION

Part of HuffPost Wellness. ©2024 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved.

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