donation campaigns that are merely an alibi. The origins of activism against pinkwashing have been dated to a 1985 Breast Cancer Action (BCA) campaign. In 2002 activism against corporate pinkwashing gained international media coverage when the BCA launched its "Think before You Pink" campaign against companies or organisations "that claim to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon product, but at the same time produce, manufacture and/or sell products that are likely to cause the disease." The "Think Before You Pink" campaign urged people to "do something besides shop." The BCA has particularly excoriated major cosmetic companies such as Avon, Revlon, and Estée Lauder, which have claimed to promote women's health while simultaneously using known and/or suspected cancer-causing chemicals, such as parabens and phthalates in their products. As alternative to pinkwashing the BCA runs an annual awareness campaign "Breast Cancer Industry Month" to emphasize the costs of treatment. The Susan G. Komen Foundation, founded 1982 to end breast cancer forever, has also been criticized for pinkwashing because its corporate partnerships amount to little more than cause related marketing that encourage a culture of consumerism. In response to this criticism the Komen Foundation and the then New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman established guidelines to help consumers understand what their donations support. The use of breast cancer or the pink ribbon in cause marketing to promote products such as firearms or pornography has also drawn controversy. In her 2006 book Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy Samantha King claimed that breast cancer has been transformed from a serious disease and individual tragedy to a market-driven industry of survivorship and corporate sales pitch. The book inspired a 2012 National Film Board of Canada documentary, Pink Ribbons, Inc.'', directed by Léa Pool. Other meanings Pink ribbons for girls (and blue for boys) were used from the mid-19th century on christening gowns in Paris, and to a limited extent in the United States. In St. Petersburg (Russia) ribbons of the same color scheme were used on white funeral shrouds for children See also Awareness ribbon List of awareness ribbons References Breast cancer awareness Ribbon, pink Awareness ribbon