My world revolves around the web. I make money by designing web applications, I make and keep friends via the web (and web conferences), and I do this thing called Pink for October (you may have heard of it). But every once in a while I have to venture out into the real world and lately, I’ve noticed a lot of pink things.

Earlier this week, I was walking back to my office and saw a couple of these sitting on someone’s desk.

I asked if I could borrow it to take this pic, but was told I could have it. Cool!

The crate in the picture is just a toy giveaway, but the company that gives away the toys has some real ones to rent. They are standard packing crates that come branded with one of the company’s philanthropic activities. Rent a Pink Crate and a portion of your rental fee goes to fighting Breast Cancer. That’s pretty cool.

The Down Side of a Pink October

I find Pink for October to be pretty innocuous in the grand scheme of Pink Things. It doesn’t cost much (if anything) to participate. It is temporary. No animals get harmed in the process.

But does the world really need pink M&Ms or pink vacuums? Or even storage crates…

There are plenty of companies around the world that look at this month as an opportunity to cash in. Slapping paint an inch thick on something and spending thousands if not millions on a marketing campaign doesn’t make your company a philanthropist.

Being a Conscious Consumer

Don’t buy pink things solely to support Breast Cancer research. If you need a vacuum cleaner, and you like pink go for it. If you need to rent storage crates and there are pink ones available, why not?

But what about all the other pink crap that gets produced? We’ve had this conversation before, but it’s good to bring up again.

Jeanne has started her own initiative, which I suggest you go read about.

Now Media has posted a few things to consider this October that are also worth reading. Such as:

Beware of vague claims like “a percentage of net proceeds.” Unless they also include a specific figure. This is just doublespeak for “we don’t really want to tell you how little we’re giving, so this makes it easy to fudge.”

That is a great point. The plus side, if there is one for you, of the M&Ms and Oreck campaigns is they explicitly state the minimum donation they will make. But I wonder, why not just make the donation and send out a press release about it.

Neither An Optimist Nor a Pessimist Be

This is a gray issue to me. There are positives and negatives. One persons positive is another’s negative and vice versa. The point is to be informed, which is why one our Pink for October’s tenets is about educating yourself and bringing that new found education to others.

Take this month and wander the web. Go to the hospital and interview and oncologist. Investigate some of the different Breast Cancer charities. Learn. Then let us all know what you found out.