Am I required to like pink? Although I am a breast cancer survivor, working at a cancer-related blog that will admittedly feature a whole lot of pink this month, personally I am not fond of the color pink. Much to the chagrin of family and friends, I am fond of black and white -- and of course the classic color of denim. It suits my personality.

I began wearing black when my children were toddlers. Toddlers tend to hang on at knee and thigh level and toddlers are known for a tactile kinesthetic state of being that makes hands sticky with such things as peanut butter and jelly or finger paint. Black is very forgiving a color in that way. It's practical in sorting piles of clothing on laundry day. Black makes deciding what to wear in the morning a no-brainer. Function became my personal fashion as I stayed with black, and as trends come and go, some years I am in and some years I am out.

I am drawn to, and will support, companies that operate from a social responsibility of giving back to the community. However, I take a rather jaded view of the true intention of some companies bandwagon approach to the pink breast cancer awareness theme. Advertising Age has an interesting article titled Breast Cancer Awareness Strategy Doubles Sales of Campbell's Soup that highlights the company's projected profits by introducing the classic red and white can of condensed tomato and chicken noodle soup in a pink ribbon version. In a normal month, Campbell's sells the Kroger chain of grocery stores 3.5 million cans of these two soups. With the pink ribbon cans, the company has sold 7 million cans to the grocery chain and has been given special placement displays outside the soup aisle at Kroger.

Campbell's spokesman John Faulkner is quoted as saying, "We certainly think there is the possibility of greater sales since our typical soup consumers are women and breast cancer is a cause they're concerned about." Campbell's will donate 3.5 cents for every pink can of soup it sells, or $250,000 dollars to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. How much is 7 million cans of soup times 50 cents a can anyway?

I am merely using Campbell's soup as an example of the mind-dizzying number of companies who have gone pink in October. I like Campbell's soup, it reminds me of childhood and simpler times. I will continue to feature companies promoting pink products this month. Part of the sales goes to breast cancer organizations. But I am more impressed with some than others. Before you purchase a product that is promoting itself pink as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, ask how much of the purchase price is going directly to breast cancer charity.

When we get to a time when companies who promote a breast cancer awareness pink product donate ALL the profits from that product to breast cancer prevention research and a cure, I will go pink. Ms. Black-and-White will buy pink, wear pink and own pink.

The title of a Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, PCRM, news release reads: Physicians Urge Elizabeth Hurley to Disavow False Dairy Diet Claims. According to PCRM, they have sent a letter to Elizabeth Hurley, asking the actress to stop participating in the Got Milk? advertising campaign that falsely implies that consuming dairy products facilitates weight loss.

“If Ms. Hurley drinks as much milk as the dairy industry advises, she may soon have trouble fitting into her bikini,” says Susan Levin, M.S., R.D., a PCRM staff dietitian. “The scientific evidence against the dairy diet theory is overwhelming. Not only does dairy consumption not lead to weight loss, but dairy has been linked to health problems ranging from lactose intolerance to increased risk of some types of cancer.”

I have found some research indicating a possible link to dairy and cancer, and a link of obesity and cancer. Normally I would applaud such efforts to stop a company attempting to promote a product that might have adverse health benefit . But, I am not fond of censorship or group pressure on an individual to act according to how the group has decided they should act. It is one thing to file lawsuits to stop the multimillion-dollar advertising campaign claiming that milk facilitates weight loss, and to ask the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration to put an end to such claims -- it's quite another action to single out an actress and demand she stop doing something they do not agree with, especially in issuing a very public press release. If there are others like me, this PRCM effort might backfire, simply because of the tactic of going after an individual and attempting to pressure them into behaving in any certain way. It's strikes me as immature bullying. And that's too bad, because the PCRM has a good point regarding the dangers of dairy.