The start of October means a lot of different things to different people. Some people view it as the official beginning of fall, or the calm before the storm that is the holiday season. But October is also a symbolic month for the millions of people either directly or indirectly affected by breast cancer. It’s become the nationally designated month for breast cancer awareness and raising funds to help educate, prevent, treat and eventually find a cure. But, with their Crucial Catch movement, the NFL unfortunately uses Breast Cancer Awareness Month to their own, profitable advantage.

Beginning in 1985, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) got its start as a partnership between then American Cancer Society and the pharmaceutical division of Imperial Chemical Industries. Initially, the key goal of NBCAM was to promote mammography as the powerful weapon in the fight against breast cancer.

It wasn’t until the early 1990s that a pink ribbon was made the official symbol of breast cancer. Now, as soon as the clock strikes midnight on October 1^st, stores seem to be filled with just as many pink products are there are Halloween and Fall themed products.

The NFL and the American Cancer Society partnered in 2009 to and since then, football season in October hasn’t looked the same. Players, coaches, and fans sport their rosy-colored apparel (even if pink clashes with the team colors) all in the name of raising breast cancer awareness.

While it sounds like a benevolent and compassionate gesture by the NFL, there have been conflicting reports on how much of the proceeds from pink merchandise sales are donated to finding a cure. The NFL has commented on the issue in the past and insists that they don’t’ profit off its pink merchandise. But some reporters have taken it upon themselves to expose the marketing scheme and crunch some numbers. Some estimates range between 0 to 8 percent of the profits directly benefit efforts to finding a cure, meaning, after all is said and done, the NFL donates less than ten percent of its pink profits to charity.

According to the Business Insider, the Crucial Catch movement is nothing more than a carefully executed PR campaign designed to maintain and even grow one of its most influential demographic: women. It’s estimated that women make up 48 percent of the NFL’s total fanbase, and influence more than 85 percent of purchasing decisions. So, in reality, by slapping some pink on their already high-priced merchandise, the NFL created a highly profitable marketing scheme.

Instead of purchasing merchandise and apparel in the name of raising money for breast cancer research, you can directly donate to multiple different charities, including http://ww5.komen.org/Donate/Donate.htmlSusan G. Komen For The Cure and the https://donate.nationalbreastcancer.orgNational Breast Cancer Foundation.