Rubber awareness bracelets are everywhere, promoting awareness about social issues like hunger (the white ONE bracelets) and prematurity (the March of Dimes glitter bracelets) to illnesses like heart disease and cancer. Some bracelets are more recognizable than others, like the pink breast cancer bracelets. Rubber breast cancer awareness bracelets are worn by survivors, those undergoing treatment and their supporters and loved ones.
History
In 2004, the Lance Armstrong Foundation came out with its yellow LiveStrong bracelets that sold for $1 each, with the money going to fund cancer research. They instantly became a huge success, with over 50 million of the bracelets sold by 2005. The bracelets were an easy way to identify with a cause, let others know you cared about cancer awareness, and showed support for anyone you knew who was going through treatment. Spurred on by the success of the LAF, many organizations started to produce their own awareness bracelets.
Benefits
There are many benefits of having rubber bracelets for breast cancer awareness. They are relatively inexpensive to make and buy, and can be easily sold for a low price to many people. A variety of individuals can wear bracelets---boys, girls, adults---and you can wear them in professional and casual settings. They are easy to remove if necessary, and easy to replace if lost or broken. Each breast cancer organization can also customize the embossing on the bracelets to its specific slogan or event.
Features
Breast cancer awareness bracelets come in all shades of pink, from bright pink to pale pink, and some are even marbleized or pink camouflage. They have varied slogans on them, with some emblazoned with the name of the organization selling them, and others saying "Cancer Sucks," or "Imagine a World Without Breast Cance" found at Choose Hope and Susan G. Komen for the Cure, respectively (see Resources). They can be sold to raise money for an organization, cancer research or an event.
Organizations
Various breast cancer organizations and websites sell rubber breast cancer awareness bracelets. Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE), and the Dr. Susan Love Breast Cancer Foundation all sell breast cancer rubber bracelets, although they are all different in what they are etched with. The FORCE wristband is pink and teal, for breast and ovarian cancer.
Different Breast Cancer Bracelets
The popularity of rubber awareness bracelets has led to other breast cancer awareness bracelets as well. Breast cancer awareness bracelets can be made from beads, gold, silver, silk cord or individual charms on a bracelet. These are more expensive than the rubber bracelets, but much of the proceeds from these bracelets also go to breast cancer organizations and research.
