We’re about to head into October, which is breast cancer awareness month, also known as Pinktober. Soon there will be pink ribbons everywhere, and organizations asking for your generous donations. But how much do pink ribbons actually help cancer patients? Here are some of the issues with Pinktober.

1. Companies exploit breast cancer awareness as a way to make money. Companies want to sell their products, and they’re willing to use cancer as a pawn. If someone sees something they don’t need, but it has a pink ribbon on it, they might be convinced to buy it because they think they’re being helpful. However, just because a product has a pink ribbon on it does not mean that any percentage of the sale will be donated towards breast cancer research. Even when companies state that a percentage of their pink products’ sales will go to “fighting breast cancer” or “raising breast cancer awareness,” they often do not say to what organizations the money will be donated. In addition, many companies place a cap on their donation amount, so any products they sell after hitting that cap are just making money for them, not for charity.

2. Pink ribbon products contribute to a culture focused solely on survivorship. Pinktober is often a time when we are shown inspirational images of cancer survivors or those who are being treated for early-stage breast cancer. But very little attention is given to those who have late-stage, or metastatic, breast cancer, for which the survival rate is low – the five-year survival rate is 22 percent. An estimated 20 to 30 percent of breast cancer cases will become metastatic, and 6 to 10 percent of new cases are initially metastatic, according to the Metastatic Breast Cancer Network (MBCN). According to a report by the MBCN, research focused on metastatic breast cancer “made up only 7 percent of the $15 billion invested in breast cancer research from 2000 to 2013 by the major governmental and nonprofit funders from North America and the United Kingdom.” Early-stage breast cancer deserves attention, but as of now, metastatic breast cancer research is underfunded, there is a clear issue with the way breast cancer is represented, and pink ribbon products do nothing to solve that issue.

3. Many pink ribbon products are made by companies whose products may contribute to cancer. Just because a company is selling pink ribbon products doesn’t mean they care about lowering your breast cancer risk. For example, in 2011, Susan G. Komen for the Cure released a pink ribbon perfume that contained harmful chemicals, and in 2014, they partnered with a fracking company to produce pink drill bits, even though some scientists have linked chemicals used in fracking to cancer.

4. Pink ribbon branding actually makes women take breast cancer less seriously. Research has shown that gender cues in advertising for breast cancer awareness trigger defense mechanisms in women that actually reduce their awareness.

5. Pink ribbon products often objectify women and their breasts. Organizations such as Save the Ta-Tas and products such as “I love boobies” bracelets place emphasis on preventing and/or treating breast cancer for the sake of saving breasts, not the cancer patients themselves. Breast cancer awareness advertising often depicts women in a sexualized manner, and many organizations focus on donating money solely for reconstructive breast surgeries rather than for developing new treatments.

It can be very discouraging to find out that your money might not be helping anyone at all, and might in fact be exploiting and hurting cancer patients. So if you want to show support and help out during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, then please consider doing the following things instead of buying pink products:

• run errands/pick up groceries for a cancer patient

• help with household chores or yard work

• drive them to their chemo/radiation/other appointments

• babysit their kids or pets

• let them know that you’re available to talk

• volunteer with or donate to a trusted and highly rated organization

• ask a breast cancer patient or survivor in your life what you could do that would be helpful or meaningful to them

For more information about the effects of pink ribbon products, watch the documentary Pink Ribbons, Inc.