I'm glad the WWE's pink overload is now over

[ASKane]

I need to start by saying I fully support all the work WWE do with charities and was glad to see the pink presence on WWE TV to support Breast Cancer Awareness month. However I also feel WWE massively overloaded the amount of pink on my TV with the Uso's in full pink and every face wearing pink T-Shirts, most heels wearing it and the ring rope. I think WWE over did the amount of Pink necessary to promote the charity which I just didn't enjoy.

I would like to know if anyone feels the same and remember I'm not hating on the charity just WWE's going to far to promote it.

 

[MCMG]

I don't think they went to far. Obviously they were trying desperately to promote Breast Cancer Awareness and I have no issue with that. The video packages were interesting and having an issue with half the roster wearing pink then that is ridiculous. If you are questioning WWE's morale intentions that this a different question but if they raise money for charity then I, once more, have no issue with that.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I kind of agree. I thought it worked better last year when Cena was the poster boy for the campaign. When you're overloaded with pink shirts they start to lose any meaning.

The subtlety of just a badge on the suit wearing wrestlers, or maybe having a noticable logo stitched onto each wrestlers attire would've worked better. Then again, this is wrestling where subtlety would be too jarring.

I'm also a cynical bastard and all I wonder is how much from the proceeds actually go to cancer charities.

 

[closet_fan]

As much as I like the WWE being behind such a huge cause that has been a growing problem in the world, it bothers me because it's main reason for use is shelling out more merchandise. You make your favorite wrestler's merch pink, people will buy it.

Although if ALL the pink merchandise goes to Breast Cancer Research, 100% of it, then I have no problem.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

To me it was overkill but more that they made some guys look out of place. Sandow who regularly wears pink wasn't allowed to. Would Sandow the character think breast cancer was a good thing? Of course not. Goldust's pink gloves didn't work for the character.

I have nothing against the WWE working with these charities and showing their support, but it should be a consistant thing like Tribute to The Troops - rather than altering how they do it each year.

In general though charities are a funny lot, sometimes they put demands on your support... For example the "race for life" fundraising for Breast Cancer runs in the uk only allowing Women. You'd think if they wanted more money you'd let everyone run, especially as men get Breast Cancer too... I don't know who Susan G. Comen was, but it's easy to believe the charity set up in her name is not what she would have intended to become. To be involved with a WWE it means they're a corporate juggernaut level like Make A Wish, when inevitably it becomes a business. My point is SGC may have said - this year we want this... and WWE either had to comply or back out (which they can't do as it would look terrible) completely. When a company like WWE works with a charity publicly, they have to tread a very fine line, as was seen with the ridiculous Finlay situation a few years back. Sometimes the charities or bodies (in this case the Marines) forget that they are involved with a "fake entertainment show". Finlay lost his job cos a skit "put Tribute to the Troops at risk"... it didn't do anything of the sort, but he was hounded out like he'd murdered his kids. I work for a charity, if I want to send out even an email it has to be checked against a "corporate guideline", a volunteer cannot just "rock up" and volunteer... so you can imagine the kind of issues facing a company like WWE working with a charity like SGC or Make A Wish... most companies don't bother... but don't think WWE is doing it strictly for goodwill... They like the kudos, publicity and "Corporate Social Responsibility" image associated with it. But perhaps setting up a "Wrestler Health and Pension" scheme might be a better place to start Vince... just sayin'

agree it was fine when it was just Cena... but if they're gonna do it next year let's see less "in your face" and make it more about the money WWE is giving rather than trying to sell shirts.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

How I see it, it's just a color. Nobody complains when almost every superstar in the late 90's was wearing black, why should I care if this month was dominated by pink? If WWE superstars overdid it then so did the NFL.

It was for a good cause. For some of us it is a very personal cause. And they did it for what? 4 weeks? I don't think it was that bad.

 

[RKOrob]

The one thing that annoyed me was that "a portion (20%) of sales from the pink/rise above cancer shirts go towards the breast cancer charity" Only a small portion? Really?

 

[The Eighties]

If it raised more awareness than I don't have an issue with it, the look wasn't flattering for some of the wrestlers like Bryan though, who could have used some pants when wearing the light pink shirt for promos.

 

[thebowtiekiller]

im guessing supporting charitys is win win for huge companys like wwe the company get publicity and improved public image the charity gets awareness and usually a nice big cheque.theres nothing wrong with that but i agree that wwe really overdoes it sometimes and that annoys people rather then makes them respect them.

 

[Pedigree1]

IF all the proceeds did indeed go to cancer research i have no problem with the amount of Pink the WWE did at all. I feel the more awareness maybe we are that much closer to a cure. I bet all of us on here have been affected by cancer one way or the other not just breast cancer.

Was it overkill? Perhaps but back in the 90's most of the heels were wearing black no one batted an eye over that. I just hope the WWE didnt profit of the merch if so thats a shame IMO

 

[indianfanboy]

I thought it went overboard when the heels too wore pink. Made me feel that it took the seriousness off their characters.

 

[shitsngiggles]

It is called "pink washing", another form of this is "green washing", like Coca cola's polar bear/WWF cans.

 

[d_henderson1810]

I don't have a problem with it, but would like an equal amount of attention paid to male diseases- such as prostate cancer. My father got it early, and is fine, but many don't, and there needs to be more awareness. I am talking about "as well as" not "instead of". All forms of cancer need to be cured.

Also, considering 90% of the wrestlers in WWE are male, and could be touched by the disease, the WWE could do worse than give support to a disease like prostate cancer.

 

[Septumus]

"a portion (20%) of sales from the pink/rise above cancer shirts go towards the breast cancer charity" If that much is true, combined with the 6-20%(conflicting reports on how much does go, but nothing says more than 20%) of all donations going to actual research for the Susan G foundation(the majority goes to management), then it means only 1.2% to 4% of the sale goes to research. That to me is a terrible ratio.

As for the pink, I feel it is over done when everyone is wearing pink. Cena was a good poster boy for it last year. I feel 1-4 wrestlers max should be wearing it, more than that and it feels over saturated. All in all though, it wasn't enough to drive me away.

 

[jameyt2003]

omg, it goes back to the NFL season long campaign for the same cause. I think the WWE put in a great effort executing their promise to raise money and awareness for the foundation. But from a aesthetic standpoint, yea, got really old, really soon. And the issue here IMO is the clash of culture and color. Pro Wrestling is usually adrenaline and testosterone, and sometimes hallucinogen, driven with the emphasis on women to have big breasts. LOL when I think of the irony. Of course, The WWE is making a PG effort so this PINKtober participation goes well with their current message. Like the original poster, I am glad it is over. Now I wonder, did anyone but one of those pink shirts?

 

[Slash-LN]

It doesn't bother me.

Funny thing is the few years they've been doing this people endlessly bitch about Cena being the poster boy and "of course they would pick Cena" and all that. Now this year they do something different and people want to bitch about it. Other people on the roster have had family die or suffer from the disease too which we saw more of them talk about it this year. So why not allow more people help promote it? It's four weeks out of the year. It's really not a big deal at all.

Maybe in the couple of years of doing this people have wanted more wrestler's merchandise to chose from besides just Cena? Instead of just one wrestler having a cancer shirt this year there are 32 (I think that's what I counted). Some of them have a pink shirt and black shirt but I counted those as one. Sure it's a way for WWE to make more money but it's a way to make more money for the foundation.

The only thing I don't like about it is that the foundation gets such a small cut. I understand WWE has to pay to have the merchandise printed and for WWE Shop orders they have to pay to mail them out and everything but it seems like they could donate a higher percentage.

I don't think the pink rope is new this year either. I'm pretty sure they had that last year though I could be wrong.

As someone else mentioned the NFL has a ton of players who wear various pink items.
During the NASCAR race this weekend they had the "yellow" line on the track painted pink.
The MLB has several players who use pink bats on Mother's day.

 

[Headman]

I was confused as to why they had Ryback wear pink. Maybe I spent too much time in the Bill Watts school of booking but I don't think the charity work should extend to heels because it leaves fans going "That guy is a real asshole, but he's got a good heart for supporting (insert cause here).". I'd just leave that stuff to the baby faces.

 

[The Butcher]

I don't have a problem with it, but would like an equal amount of attention paid to male diseases- such as prostate cancer. My father got it early, and is fine, but many don't, and there needs to be more awareness. I am talking about "as well as" not "instead of". All forms of cancer need to be cured.

Also, considering 90% of the wrestlers in WWE are male, and could be touched by the disease, the WWE could do worse than give support to a disease like prostate cancer.

My sentiments exactly. Frankly, I think we're pretty well aware of breast cancer. It's the best marketed disease there is. I love boobs as much as the next guy, but can't another cancer get some attention? To paraphrase one of the hosts of Wrestling Soup when speaking on the subject: "pancreatic cancer took out Steve Jobs. I'm pretty sure that's the most serious cancer we've got." Not that the rich can buy their way out of any terminal illness, but in his attempt at humor the guy had a point- there's other shit out there that can kill us and that needs awareness, early detection, and funding for research toward a cure.

That said, WWE is doing something positive, so the ropes and t-shirts have my blessing. Their motives are clearly not purely altruistic, but they aren't the charity, Komen is. It's really a shame that it takes the profit and PR aspects to get the ball rolling on things like this, though. Lou Albano worked hard to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis research during the 80's. Imagine how much further awareness of and treatment for that illness would be if it was plastered all over WWF programming during the Rock 'N' Wrestling era. Brandon Marshall got fined $10,500 by the NFL for wearing green shoes in support of mental health awareness. I'm aware that the league's uniform rules are strict, but it sure would do a lot of good for the mentally ill if they had the NFL in their corner. It is what it is, though. Money makes the world go round, and if it can fuel the machine that eventually gets around to eradicating booby cancer, that's not a bad thing.

 

[JUSTINMFNBEEMER]

why is this even in the forums to bitch about?

my god its to support cancer for fuck sakes!

wwe isnt real mark, who gives a shit if the "bad guys" and "good guys" are both wearing pink, its for a good cause. jesus the iwc just fucking looks for anything to bitch about.

 

[SkandorAkbar]

i think a more appropriate charity the wwe should be involved with would the brain trauma foundation. i've had enough of the politically correct wwe.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Overkill would be if the winners of matches pose standing on the ropes, pointing to their pink shirts instead of exalting in their victories. Overkill would be having the performers abandoning their usual promos to talk about the Komen effort. None of this has happened.

Just wearing the pink shirts made special for this initiative isn't overkill. In fact, it doesn't get in the way of anything in the storyline.

Got to applaud WWE for what they're doing. If the primary reason for doing it is to raise their corporate profile, they're still doing a hell of a lot of good toward the effort to rid the world of cancer.

'Course, if the Undertaker makes an appearance wearing pink, I might look at it differently.