Breast cancer awareness: something we can all get on board with, right? October has been dubbed the official month of breast cancer awareness, and all over the country, shirts, flags and football jerseys are turning pink. That’s right, football jerseys.

The NFL has become one of the largest supporters of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the nation. Watch any NFL game and you’ll see players sporting pink cleats, pink towels and pink gloves. It’s impossible for any casual viewer of the NFL to miss.

What many don’t realize, however, is that the NFL’s commercialization of the Breast Cancer Awareness Month has quickly become one of the largest scams in the country.

The league is secretly exploiting the disease for its own gain, and fans all over the country are falling for it.

Only $11.25 of every $100 spent on NFL merchandise and raised by the NFL during the month of October is donated to the American Cancer Society, according to an article from the Business Insider.

The remainder is allotted to cover costs of the month long promotion and filtered back into the pockets of the owners of the 32 NFL franchises.

Furthermore, less than three quarters of the money that is actually donated to the American Cancer Society is then used to further breast cancer research, according to the article.

The argument remains that the awareness of breast cancer and promotion of yearly mammogram screening can save lives.

And while awareness certainly can save lives, a journal article published by the New England Journal of Medicine disputes the mammogram claim that the NFL promotes.

The journal cites that these types of annual screenings prevent one death per 1000 women screened – less than impressive statistics.

Seeing that “less than one percent of all breast cancer develops in males” yet “one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime,” according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, it makes sense that females are the primary focus of breast cancer awareness month.

The NFL’s reasoning for promoting such a cause, then, requires further investigation.

Obviously, financial gain is to be had by selling merchandise, but the NFL is also attempting to maintain a large demographic of their viewership.

Women make up an estimated 45 percent of the NFL’s more than 150 million American fans, according to an article by the Washington Post.

By giving the impression that the NFL cares about women’s issues and women’s health, it is fooling women all over the country into buying into a cause that ultimately just promotes their own brand and increases viewership.

The Guardian addressed this issue by criticizing the league false care for the well being of women when it said, “If the NFL truly cares about the health of its female fans, it will stop spreading bunk science to women at cancer risk.”

Rather, the NFL should focus on issues internal to the league dealing with women, such as the serial abuse of females by its players and the severe underpayment of cheerleaders. The last thing it needs to focus on, according to the article, is putting pink ribbons on footballs in a sparse effort to promote the health of the public.

While it remains a sensitive subject in the hearts of Americans, breast cancer is being exploited by many in the month of October, one of the largest culprits being the National Football League.

Breast cancer remains one of the most prominent cancers in the United States, but the path to avoiding and curing the disease is not found through the meager attempts of organizations like the NFL.

Philip Grossenbacher is a sophomore studying english education from Lynwood. He can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this Column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of The Office of Student Media.