The self-induced implosion of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure machine (hereafter, “The Great Pink Satan”) has shown the world what happens when a well-intentioned (let’s give them the benefit of the doubt) organization loses sight of their mission and sells out under political pressure.
I won’t not waste any time or emotional bandwidth to e-mail them, tweet them, call them, or otherwise convey my dismay. They Simply Do Not Care. I am not their target demographic; I’m not a deep-pocket corporate donor. I can’t tell others what to do, but my fervent wish is that we all stand aside and let this train wreck proceed.
It’s a powerful learning opportunity, and a chance for our “conservative” enemies and those who despise liberals to see our immediate and unfettered altruism in action.
Follow along below the tumor that was caught in time through early detection for more...
My first move was to make a donation to Planned Parenthood yesterday. My second move was to double that with another donation this afternoon. Evidently, I’m in good company, as multiple sources have reported that donations of up to $650,000 have been pouring in to Planned Parenthood over the past day or so, nearly replacing (in fact by now, probably exceeding) the $680,000 that was being provided by the Great Pink Satan.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see their defunding by the Great Pink Satan as the start of a massive revival for Planned Parenthood’s mission and reputation. Hell hath no fury like a nation of women scorned.
Future business school students will likely study the Great Pink Satan debacle as a cautionary tale on several levels:
Failure to manage communications – coming across as snippy and petulant at the outrage that they themselves unleashed shows that the Great Pink Satan is more concerned with their idea of political correctness than with their mission. Retweeting snarky comments is no way for an organization’s executive to behave in the midst of an existential crisis. If they didn’t recognize it as an existential crisis, they should be ousted from their positions.
Failure to manage growth – again, I’ll accept that they launched what would become the Great Pink Satan with the best of intentions: finding a way to prevent or cure breast cancer. Somewhere along the line, they realized that, without breast cancer, they’d be out of business, and lots of comfortably entrenched and highly compensated paid people would lose their jobs. With the benefit of hindsight, there was probably some tipping point where this became all about the money.
Failure to restrain greed - shaking down corporate donors wasn’t enough. Even the everyday people who wanted to March for the Cure had to shell out money to buy their gear. Everyone was “guilted” into paying extra for pink crap. Again, if we didn’t know better, we’d conclude that the Great Pink Satan’s only wish for breast cancer victims and their families was that they’d have money left after treatment (or after funeral expenses) to donate to this supposed “cause”.
Failure to advance their mission – in operation for over 30 years, the Great Pink Satan has not only failed in its mission to find a cure, it has seen breast cancer rates increase. There’s evidently much more money to be made in perpetuating the disease than in curing it.
As we await these future retrospectives, the real lesson is this: the American people didn’t hesitate in opening their hearts and their wallets to ensure that women continued to have access to life-saving mammography and treatment. We can’t wait until the Great Pink Satan realizes the error of its ways, reverses their decision, and doubles their funding to Planned Parenthood in an act of contrition. It’s Never Going to Happen. There’s no cure for the Great Pink Satan.
It’s up to us to support Planned Parenthood, and to ensure that not one single woman goes without life-saving diagnosis and treatment. In so doing, we honor women, men, and families as we wait – or ideally work – for a cure… with the help of those organizations who truly embrace that mission.
Fri Feb 03, 2012 at 10:13 AM PT: Well, well... the Great Pink Satan, reeling from the backlash they've stirred up by poking a stick into the cave of the sleeping bear, has issued a mealy-mouthed, weasel-worded "reversal", well documented here by other diaries. Add this latest maneuver to the Future Business School Discussion Topics: how to issue a "reversal" and antagonize all the people you just won over with your original move. I can only imagine the fury of people who "finally" donated to the Great Pink Satan in recent days, once they severed ties with Planned Parenthood.
None of this changes the facts: the Great Pink Satan is still dead. You can't put the pin back in the grenade. The outrage they've unleashed will continue as volunteers, donors, walkers, providers of in-kind services, and everyone else who realizes that they've been pinkwashed turn their attentions, energies, time, and money to more worthy organizations.