Bowing to anti-choice pressure, breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure has faced an escalating uproar over its decision to cut breast screening grants to Planned Parenthood. According to MoveOn, Planned Parenthood health centers are often the main source of health care for women in underserved communities, providing 830,000 breast exams every year—170,000 of these were funded through Komen, along with 6,400 mammogram referrals. The grants totaled $680,000 last year.
And the result….Komen has been bombarded with negative press, emails and Facebook posts, since the story broke. This is a clear cut case of breaking one of the sacred rules of social marketing—thy must align thyself with thine’s cause.
Komen has done a tremendous amount of work in raising money and improving awareness about breast cancer. To pull funding from a partner that provides screening and early detection to those that don’t have access to services is a complete disconnect from the organization’s mission.
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