Ribbon development

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7439.589

BMJ 2004;328:589 (6 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7439.589

reviews

Press

Ribbon development

With so many now to choose from, do ribbons make people moredisease aware—or just more confused?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Walk down any high street and you will see them pinned to assortedlapels in pink, red, tartan, and blue.

This proliferation of looped empathy ribbons may be heartening,but it is also confusing. Not only are there too many coloursto remember what cause they are promoting but, in some cases,one colour has been hijacked by several charities.

In America, for example, if you meet someone wearing a purpleribbon you may assume it is in sympathy for people with pancreaticcancer. But these ribbons are also worn by breastfeeding campaigners,those against domestic violence, or to raise awareness of thetoll of urban violence. Green is worn to publicise organ andtissue donation, but also childhood depression, ovarian cancer,and leukaemia. They are also worn by environmental activists.

In the United States ribbon wearing is so out of control—youcan buy chocolate ribbons in coloured foils—that one . . . [Full text of this article]

-->

Rebecca Coombes, freelance journalist

London RebeccaCoombes@aol.com