Every month, society decides on another marginalized group to raise up only to drop them the minute the clock hits midnight. For 30 days, social media sites are filled with tributes; companies release themed marketing campaigns and change the colors of their logos, and people wear certain colors to show off their support. But once the month is over, the enthusiasm vanishes, while the issues they were created over sadly do not. Though these awareness months were created with the best of intentions — to support marginalized communities. In practice they are little more than performative acts, only creating brief moments of attention that usually do not lead anywhere.
Critics of the awareness month system argue that designated months can lead to superficial involvement in awareness campaigns rather than action of any substance. The Stanford Social Innovation Review argues that poorly executed awareness campaigns can carry some risks to the health of the movement as a whole. “When done wrong, an awareness campaign carries four specific risks: it might lead to no action; it might reach the wrong audience; it might create harm and it could generate a backlash.”
Corporate attempts at involvement in awareness campaigns have only made the issue worse. The term “pinkwashing” has been coined for companies that adopt certain colors or symbols, such as the pink ribbon during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, while also contributing to the problem the movement is fighting against. An article by journalist Rick Cohen in Nonprofit Quarterly discusses how many of the campaigns pushed by large corporations during Breast Cancer Awareness Month are based mostly on several assumptions they lead consumers to, such as a pink ribbon meaning the company gives substantial funds toward prevention and that governments protect us from carcinogens in consumer products.
The issue goes beyond just corporate marketing. Research published in Social Science & Medicine found little evidence connecting awareness months with meaningful behavioral changes or policy shifts. While people may engage with content or share posts online, this does not necessarily translate into real-world action. This leads to an issue known as “narcotizing dysfunction.” This phenomenon happens when people consume a certain piece of content for so long they start to believe that merely knowing about it is helping the cause and leading to an overall apathy towards the problem. The constant flood of campaigns onto people’s phones may make them feel like they are more involved in change than the reality. They are giving little more than a slight acknowledgement to the problem before continuing to scroll.
Beyond their ineffectiveness, awareness months also face a more practical problem — there are not enough months for everyone. With countless causes, each competing with each other for attention, many are crammed into the same short time spans, diluting their individual impacts. October, for example, is not only Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but also Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Down Syndrome Awareness Month and several others. “I think they are weird because why do you need a month to be recognized — why can’t you always be,” senior Arkady Gurevich said. “There’s not enough months to recognize everyone anyway.”
That is not to say awareness months are entirely useless. They do somewhat serve their purpose as a starting point for conversation and education. However, without year-round efforts to fix the actual foundation of the issues, the impact of these sorts of months is fleeting at best. As StudioID puts it, “The corporate world has often been accused of piggybacking on month-long observances … These days, though, audiences are hyper-sensitive to empty efforts that are made to simply try and keep up appearances.” In other words, the public is beginning to recognize the difference between genuine activism and money-driven marketing.
Awareness months may start conversations but without continued support and action, they are functionally just hollow gestures. If society really wants to make a difference, it’s time to move past empty symbolism and support these causes year-round, not just when the calendar tells us to.
Many awareness campaigns seem well-intentioned, but often corporate involvement leads to a greater focus on profit. A study by news.com.au showed that nearly 75% of health awareness campaigns were influenced by corporations with financial interests in the promoted areas, such as a campaign promoting the benefits of mammograms that are profitable to a certain hospital. Only 37% of these campaigns clearly disclosed their corporate ties. (Photo/Thirdman via pexels)
