Report Refutes Effectiveness of Colour Pink for Breast Cancer Marketing
A new report has concluded that the practise of breast cancer charities using the colour pink in their branding, advertising and communications could be counterproductive.
Conducted by London Business School, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and international business school INSEAD, the report claims that gender cues such as pink ribbons, backgrounds and images of women "activate a defensive reaction" in the female demographic.
Contradict the "prevailing belief" of the advertising industry, they say using pink for marketing actually reduces donations and support from women.
Associate Professor of Marketing at Rotterdam School of Management and co-author of the report, Dr Stefano Puntoni, commented: "These defensive mechanisms interfere with key objectives of breast cancer campaigns. For example, they lower women's perceived vulnerability to breast cancer, reduce their donations to ovarian cancer research, make breast cancer advertisements more difficult to process, and decrease memory for breast cancer advertisements."
Breast cancer charities such as Breakthrough Breast Cancer are still adamant about associating the colour pink with their cause however - they changed their branding from purple to pink after consumer research found that supporters and the public associate the colour to breast cancer charities.