Cause Marketing from Clinique Benefiting the Breast Cancer Research Foundation

Throughout October 2012, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I’ll post on a new breast cancer cause marketing campaign each business day.

First up is Clinique’s Great Skin, Great Cause moisturizing lotion now available wherever Clinique is sold, as well as online.

The lotion is $36 and comes with a pink ribbon key ring and a breast cancer awareness pink ribbon charm. Of the $36, $10 goes to the cause, a generous donation amount from a dedicated sponsor.

Clinique is owned by the Estee Lauder Companies, so the benefiting charity is the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which was founded by Evelyn Lauder in 1993. Evelyn Lauder was the daughter-in-law of Estee and for many years the public face of the company until her death in 2011.

Evelyn Lauder, along with Alexandra Penney, then editor of Self magazine, also co-founded and popularized the pink ribbon as a symbol of the fight against breast cancer in 1992.

In the 20 years since, the one place where you are almost guaranteed to find stuff with a pink ribbon is at an Estee Lauder counter.

I’ve argued in the past that breast cancer awareness seems slightly pointless in an age when on ESPN Deportes, the Spanish-language version of the cable giant, a male oncologist shows a male host how to do a breast self-exam on-air. In that environment, it kinda seems like the breast cancer awareness message has gotten out.

But let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that the breast cancer message is ever-new. Wouldn’t it be better if pink ribbon trinkets like key rings and charms actually had some usable information on them? For instance, three ways you can protect yourself against breast cancer:

Get a mammogram
Get a clinical breast exam
Learn how to do a self examination*

Short as that is, it’s still too long for small charm, and probably too d idactic anyway.

However, the charm could have a QR code on the back that points to a website that includes actionable advice on breast cancer awareness.

Over the next 30 days we’ll see a lot of pink ribbon merchandise. But I haven’t seen a charm or anything like it that includes a QR code used in this way. Because of the intimacy of the two organizations, Estee Lauder and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation are probably the two organizations to try and make something like this happen.

*All from Susan G. Komen for the Cure

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