by Kim Irish, Program M
anager
Susan G. Komen for the Cure has partnered with TPR Holdings, LLC, a New York City-based investor and operator in the consumer products industry, to create a perfume called Promise Me. According to the fragrance’s website, the pink-tinted Promise Me is “The Scent of Inspiration.” Its neatly packaged bottles and gift sets, with the all-too-familiar Komen ribbon emblazoned on the side, remind us that it’s not just inspiration Komen and TPR Holdings wants – they want us to shop our way to a cure.
Breast Cancer Action, like many of our favorite bloggers, disputes the real value of this type of cause marketing for several reasons.
- The amount of each perfume purchase dedicated to supporting breast cancer research is paltry (Katie Ford Hall at Uneasy Pink notes that only $1.51 of each bottle will go to research, despite the whopping $59.00 individuals will spend per 3.4 oz bottle of Promise Me Eau de Parfum).
- Two of the fragrance’s ingredients are potentially carcinogenic. I visited the Home Shopping Network’s webpage dedicated to Promise Me Eau de Parfum and did some sleuthing. The ingredient coumarin rated a 6 (or moderate hazard) on the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database hazard scale. Coumarin is a naturally occurring and synthetically produced scent chemical, about which the Carcinogenic Potency Project at UC Berkeley determined there is limited evidence of carcinogenic activity in rats and mice. In addition, I found that Ci 60730 (also known as Violet 2) ranked a 3 (or moderate hazard) on the Skin Deep hazard scale. Like coumarin, there is limited evidence of cancer connected with Violet 2.
What’s that, you say? It seems hypocritical that Susan G. Komen for the Cure would create a perfume that contains potential carcinogens while simultaneously claiming to fight “every minute of every day to finish what we started and achieve our vision of a world without breast cancer”? That’s what Breast Cancer Action thinks, too. No amount of shopping for pink ribbon products will rid our world of the breast cancer epidemic. We need to change the conversation about breast cancer – to one that focuses on eliminating toxins from the personal care products that we use daily, and where we boldly call out pinkwashers for distracting us from the real work that needs to be done.
11 Comments
This one takes the proverbial cake. Thanks for sharing the ingredients list. How about… “Promise me” to develop some ethical standards about your branding practices and corporate partnerships. Komen’s really gone too far.
So proud of you for continuing to publish their partnerships. I’ve been shaking my head for a while. ThinkBeforeYouPink is an inspiration. Truly, Truly.
You’ve really got to hand it to Komen’s PR folks. Pink cars, pink buckets of fried chicken, lawsuits over trademarks and now pinkwashed perfume. What’s their next big move? Certainly nothing that has anything to do with eradicating breast cancer.
Thank you for listing the ingrediants. Komen continues to amaze me by how far they will go to sell a product. I posted about this perfume today too… Keep up the good work!
Good girl ! Simply said “One is putting their foot in their mouth.
Good research I admire you !
Limited evidence of cancer means those chemicals really aren’t much of a cancer risk. Coumarin is rated a 6 because it’s somewhat toxic to the liver and kidneys…in high amounts. Not a perfume spritz’s worth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coumarin#Toxicity_and_use_in_foods.2C_beverages.2C_tobacco.2C_and_cosmetics
The skin deep database probably rates tap water a “5” – because drinking too much of it can be toxic – and it can cause drowning if inhaled.
Ingredient alarmism is just another way of marketing organic/natural products – and it’s no more ethical than someone cashing in on peoples altruistic tendencies.
That said, if you’re buying a product because the company offers a donation, and you don’t find out where the donation is going, how it’s likely to be used (marketing, research etc) and how much of the purchase is donated, it’s very unlikely you’ll get your moneys worth….
Thank you so much for raising awareness on this issue. I’m certainly going to do my best to let others know about this. Too many people fall into the trap of green and pink washing. What a shame!
Peace. 😉
I would love to host a booth in honor of Breast Cancer Action in my community. Do you have information that I can get out to the public? I would also love to fund raise to donate to Breast Cancer Action.
Thanks for this information. The fact that something is only toxic in large amounts doesn’t mean you can put it in a perfume. We are bombarded with various fragrances every day. It all adds up.
I also found this in a Komen press release on their perfume: “TPR Holdings, the distributor of the perfume, has assured us that the perfume’s ingredients were analyzed before production and that its ingredients are well within fragrance and cosmetic industry standards as confirmed by the International Fragrance Association.”
Or said another way, “Don’t worry, the fox is guarding the hen house.”
It’s a HUGE mistake that the fragrance industry is self-regulating!
It’s also a HUGE mistake that the GOVERNMENT is SELF-REGULATING!!!
Let’s go after them 1st!!!