OK – I thought the NFL breast cancer awareness campaign that runs throughout October was a crazy way to capitalize on supporting breast cancer (research and other organizations), but I saw another one that blows me away. Personal finance expert Suze Orman is supporting a QVC event – FFANY Shoes on Sale (today on QVC). The ad says “YOU’RE APPROVED! To buy shoes and fight breast cancer.”

You can buy shoes at half the manufacturer’s suggested retail price and the net proceeds benefit breast cancer research and education. That’s all well and good but it doesn’t tell you what net proceeds means to them. Does it take out marketing costs, endorsement fees from people like Suze Orman (assuming she got an endorsement fee for connecting her name to this ad campaign), and other costs? Makes you wonder… They do tout that they have sold over a million pairs of shoes doing this promotion since 1994 and that they hope that with this year’s proceeds their cumulative total support will reach $35 Million (an average of $2,058,000 a year, which is better than the NFL).

Although they list a good sized chink of change and the hospitals that receive the money – it seems like pink washing in my opinion — jumping on the band wagon to show  support for such an emotion-evoking disease as breast cancer.

At least they post these facts and stats:

• Breast cancer is a disease in which a malignant (cancerous) tumor develops from cells in the breast. Excluding skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women of all major ethnic and racial groups in the U.S.³
• According to the American Cancer Society, it is estimated that 230,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women in the U.S. in 2011.¹
• Of the new cases of breast cancer, 57,650 new cases of carcinoma in situ (CIS) breast cancer will be diagnosed among women in the U.S. in 2011 (CIS is non-invasive and is the earliest form of breast cancer).¹
• Of the 774,370 new cancer cases diagnosed in women in 2011 (excluding basal and squamous cell skin cancers and in-situ carcinomas except urinary bladder), breast cancer alone accounts for more than 1 in 4 cancers in women (or 30%).³
• Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women (after lung cancer) and it is the leading cause of cancer death for U.S. women between the ages of 20 and 59.^3,5
• Based on statistics from 2005-2007, the chance that a woman in the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer during her life is 1 in 8.²
• The chance of a woman dying from breast cancer is about 1 in 35 (about 3%).¹
• In 2011, an estimated 39,520 women in the U.S. are expected to succumb to the disease.¹
• Breast cancer is not exclusively a disease of women. Although male breast cancer is rare, about 2,140 new cases of breast cancer (less than 1%) will be diagnosed in men in 2011 and the number of men expected to succumb to the disease in 2011 is 450.³
• In the U.S., about every 2-1/2 minutes a woman learns she has the disease.⁸
• Every 13 minutes, a woman in the U.S. dies of breast cancer.⁹
• Gender and age are the most significant risk factors for developing breast cancer. Every woman is at risk for developing breast cancer and the chances of being diagnosed with it rises sharply after the age of 40.⁶
• From ages 40-49, the chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer is 1 in 233; from ages 40-49, the chance is 1 in 69; from 50-59, the chance is 1 in 38; and from 60-69, the chance is 1 in 27.¹
• From 2004-2008, the average age at which a woman was diagnosed with the disease was 61.⁸
• Between 70% to 80% of women who develop breast cancer do not have a family history of the disease.⁶
• Mammography is a very accurate screening tool for women both at average and increased risk. On average, mammography will detect 80%-90% of breast cancers in women without symptoms.³
• The five-year survival rate refers to the percentage of patients who live at least five years after their cancer is found, therefore early detection and screening is key to surviving breast cancer. The five-year survival rate for breast cancer in a localized stage for all races was 98% from 2001 to 2007 (localized stage is malignant cancer that has not spread to the lymph nodes or other sites outside the breast).⁷
• The five-year survival rate for breast cancer in a regional state (spread to regional lymph nodes) after early-stage diagnosis and treatment was 84% from 2001-2007.⁷
• Breast cancer has a higher incidence rate in white women than any other racial or ethnic group (African-American/black, Hispanic/Latina, Asian/Pacific Islander, or American Indian/Alaska Native), however, African-American/black women are most likely to succumb to the disease.¹⁰
• According to the American Cancer Society, there were over 2.6 million women with a history of breast cancer alive as of January 1, 2008. That figure includes women with active disease and those who are cured of their disease.²

Sources:

1. American Cancer Society. Breast Cancer Overview. “How Many Women Get Breast Cancer?”http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancer/overviewguide/breast-cancer-overview-key-statistics Last medical review: 9/24/10 Last revised: 6/20/11.

2. SEER Stat Fact Sheets: Breast. http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/breast.html

3. American Cancer Society. Breast Cancer Facts & Figures 2011.http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/content/@epidemiologysurveilance/documents/document/acspc-029771.pdf

4. National Cancer Institute. Cancer Topics: Breast Cancer. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/breast

5. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Breast Cancer. http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/conditions/breast-cancer/index.cfm

6. Breast Cancer Statistics. http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/understand_bc/statistics.jsp

7. SEER Stat Fact Sheets: Breast Cancer Incidence & Mortality. http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/breast.html#survival

8. The following calculations were used for this statistic and includes cases of carcinoma in situ: 365 days x 24 hours/day x 60 minutes/hour = 525,600 minutes/year 525,600 minutes/year / 207,090 new breast cancer cases = 2.54 (rounded to 2.5) minutes/cases

9. The following calculations were used for this statistic: 365 days x 24 hours/day x 60 minutes/hour = 525,600 minutes/year 525,600 minutes/year / 39,520 deaths/year = 13.30 (rounded down to 13) minutes/deaths

10. National Cancer Institute. Cancer Health Disparities. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/disparities/cancer-health-disparities

11. American Cancer Society. Early Detection. http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/webcontent/003165-pdf.pdf

So, it’s good that they support the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and education, but do they really need to sell shoes in an ad campaign with Suze Orman to do it?