Our society in the United States has moved from being silent about how the disease has affected our lives to being extremely open to the practice of sharing personal stories and burdens with others. others. Today, this is no longer the case and a lot has changed in cancer culture. The terminology has even changed. We call patients “survivors” (King, 2010). We carry certain symbols because of their latent and manifest meanings. Most notably, the cancer ribbon has become “one of the most widely recognized symbols in the United States” (Harvey and Strahilevitz 2009). In the United States, consumers have been participating in a buying storm for years around one specific theme: awareness. It is not a hotly debated topic publicly, probably due to its nonprofit stature; However, this is not an uncontroversial topic. Simply put, illness is something that should not be taken advantage of. There are many different approaches to explaining this phenomenon. Most glaring, however, is breast cancer awareness. Budgets that appear to allocate a certain amount to research and prevention actually provide much less. The marketing tactics are misleading and the Cancer Ribbon and similar symbols are, in some cases, used as a tool to bolster marketing campaigns. These symbols are taking on a different meaning than what they were originally intended for. Ribbons were originally intended to inspire (Fernandez, 1998). The obvious meaning of the pink ribbon in our society is breast cancer awareness. Latent meanings have evolved enormously over the last 10 years and have new meaning. The pink ribbon has become a fashion statement, especially when worn on clothing...... middle of paper ... our help.' (Banks, 2013). This company recognizes that pink ribbons will remain a vital form of income for them as they sell them at different events, but they have welcomed this change with open arms (Banks, 2013). They now have their own identity instead of blending into the rosy atmosphere of non-profit organizations fighting breast cancer. Failing to conform to the norms of making money is a scary concept for businesses and nonprofits. There are ways to keep the community of people affected by illness and cancer strong and thriving without taking advantage of it. Businesses have the opportunity to break free from societal norms and start a new movement to be innovative and move away from the color pink. There is nothing wrong with using pink, as long as you don't take advantage of consumers and are transparent about where the money goes and how much..