By Minda Reves

What do Lady’s Foot Locker, Serta and Energizer have in common? All are agreed to donate a percentage of their October proceeds to Breast Cancer Awareness. October was Breast Cancer Awareness month and pink ribbons are on parade.

Target stores have entire kiosks dedicated to pink ribbon paraphernalia, from pens to charms to shirts. All of the proceeds from these items will go to BCA.

Dorothy Kedel, Target store manager, said the items are popular among shoppers. “We’ve already sold out of the shirts and a lot of other stuff.”

But does pink push products? Are shoppers picking Serta mattresses because the company is donating $50 from every mattress purchase to BCA?

Mike Smith, manager of Fairdale Furniture Liquidators, doesn’t think so. “They mention it, but there’s no spike because of it.”

Well, not everyone needs a mattress. But some everyday items were suddenly pretty in pink for October.

Corletha Norman, a junior at the University of Louisville, isn’t influenced by the ribbon when she does her shopping.

“I haven’t really found anything donating to Breast Cancer Awareness that I’ve really needed,” she said.

Freshman Hessan Hagnazar prefers pink when he picks his yogurt, but freshman Steve Clark seems to sum up student shopping habits best: “I just buy what I like.”

So it doesn’t seem plausible that companies partaking in pink ribbon promotions are doing it to pump up sales.

Women’s Center Director Mary Karen Powers was shocked to hear about student unawareness.

“So many women have had breast cancer,” she said. “I’m surprised people don’t know someone […] who’s been touched by this disease.”

Powers said she has read about companies’ motivations for joining the retail ribbon rodeo.

“There are some people in the Breast Cancer Awareness community [who believe] some companies have started putting the little pink ribbons on their products as a marketing ploy and not as a genuine interest,” she said.

Powers believes companies should make the donation directly.

“I’m personally not inspired to buy products with pink ribbons, [but] it’s a good thing to have the contribution,” she said.

Supporting the direct donations stance is the Feminist Daily News Wire, which reported that the 3M Corporation put $500,000 into a breast cancer-related marketing campaign last year.

It led to an increase in sales of 80 percent over 3M’s expectations, according to PR Week.

The campaign included a 70-foot-tall pink ribbon made of 75,000 Post-It notes in Times Square. However, the Feminist Daily story reported, only $300,000 was donated to the breast cancer cause.

If you’re only purchasing pink ribbon products because a portion of the proceeds go to BCA, the Feminist Daily recommends you either decide to donate directly or do some ribbon research on the companies’ Web sites to see exactly what percentage is going to BCA.