(openPR) - As the trend of breast cancer wristbands grows, a plethora of other wristband charities compete for a piece of the pie.
The original awareness wristband, known as the “Livestrong” wristband, was designed by the Lance Armstrong Foundation and was bright yellow to match the cyclist’s uniform. Lance Armstrong is most widely known for beating testicular cancer and winning the Tour de France. In an attempt to educate people on cancer and raise money for research and development, the silicone bracelets were an innovative way to get people’s attention. However, it may have worked too well. After the bracelets were featured on Oprah, they became even more popular. Soon they were being mimicked by every charity and awareness group imaginable in every possible color. It began with breast cancer awareness and grew from there. Now, you can find bracelets raising money for Tsunami victims, Katrina victims, and even on seatbelt safety awareness.
For this reason, a great deal of controversy is growing over the wristbands. Many, included Timothy Noah, Slate journalist, have contended the bracelets are little more than a fashion trend at this point and have lost their original meaning. With the multitude of colors and designs, there is almost no way to tell what charity someone is trying to support, not to mention the narcissistic idea of wanting to advertise charitable contributions in the first place. See www.breastcancerwristbands2.com/articles/breast-cancer-wr... for more information.
Another issue comes to play when third parties sell these awareness bracelets. Often, when this happens, only a small portion of the proceeds actually goes to the intended charities. There are also several scams that sell knock-off bracelets for no charitable purpose. An effort is being made to educate people on the existence of these situations in which they may be taken for granted.
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