Praise for Léa Pool's PINK RIBBONS
"Indignant and subversive… Resoundingly pops the shiny pink balloon of the breast cancer movement/industry, debunking the "comfortable lies" and corporate double-talk that permeate the massive and thus-far-ineffectual campaign against a disease that claims nearly 60,000 lives each year in North America alone." - John Anderson, Variety
"A searing, passionate and deeply human examination of the warping of a cause…Devastatingly persuasive while remaining profoundly sensitive."
- Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon
"CRITIC'S PICK! Uncannily prescient and enduringly timely."
- Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post
"A stinging indictment and trenchant critique of breast cancer 'culture.'"
- Mindy Farabee. Los Angeles Times
"An exposé in the purest, most pissed-off sense, director Léa Pool’s “Pink Ribbons, Inc.” digs into the bizarre elision of philanthropy, corporate sponsorship, and sanitized pseudo-activism that comprises the breast-cancer-awareness industry… [Filmmaker] Pool and experts such as Barbara Ehrenreich and Dr. Samantha King methodically reveal [Komen’s efforts] to be, like the color itself, vomitously distracting and of marginal utility… “Pink Ribbons, Inc.” is an argument for reintroducing into the public discourse the uncertainty, fear, and complexity that cancer sufferers and their loved ones know all too well."
- Mark Holcomb, Village Voice
"A fire-breathing documentary" - Greg Evans, Bloomberg
"Provocative and well-argued. Making a slew of excellent points many well-intentioned people won't want to hear, Pink Ribbons, Inc. argues persuasively that much of what we're currently doing to fight breast cancer is feel-good nonsense or worse.
-John DeFore, The Hollywood Reporter
"Shocking and enraging...yet very entertaining."-Dennis Harvey, San Francisco Bay Guaradian
" Thorny...damning."- Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle
"This could be the most important documentary of the year. Forget that: of the decade."
- James van Maanen, Trust Movies
"Pool’s all-points attack on breast-cancer branding makes it impossible to see pink without a jaundiced eye." - Scott Tobias, AV Club
"Upsetting… Like all good investigative documentaries, it presents some unpleasant truths, doesn’t sugarcoat, or pretend there’s an easy solution when there isn’t."
- Marsha McCreadie, Film Journal
"Powerful...Enlightening." - Andrew Schenker, Time Out New York
"[Pink Ribbons, Inc.] deserves to be seen." - Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times
"CRITIC'S PICK! A deliberate and incisive case against big philanthropy’s coziness with corporate objectives." - Joe Warminsky, Washington City Paper
"Pool and her interviewees ask a crucial question with this film: Has the pink ribbon campaign actually helped save lives? Or is it simply a way for companies to look good -- and sell products -- on the back of women who have gone through terrible tragedies?"
– Kelly Jane Torrance, Washington Examiner
"Worth watching even if you think you are familiar with pinkwashing and the recent scandals surrounding it. The film honors the complexity of breast cancer without pandering to those who have it, or even knocking those who find support in the pink ribbon world. Instead, it calls out the mismanagement of our energy and dollars."
" - Danielle Roderick, Ms. Magazine
"Thought-provoking" - Sara Stewart, New York Post
"Provocative" - Mark jenkins, NPR
"Powerful and disturbing. A no holds barred look at the 'breast cancer culture'."
- David-Elijah Nahmod, Bay Area Reporter
"A righteously outraged study of how health-related fundraising is circumscribed by the profit motive, Pink Ribbons, Inc. makes illuminating connections between the ubiquitous symbol of breast cancer awareness and the network of corporate entities that sustains—and carefully engineers the priorities of—the cross-marketing of the cause."
- Bill Weber, Slant Magazine
"Eye-opening, anger-inducing… yanks the proverbial warm and fuzzy pink blanket away that’s covering up the lies and deceptions being put across from the very same organizations who say they are here to help…a comprehensive, informative, and poignant look at the history of breast cancer and the campaign around it. You’ll feel both haunted, nausiated, and infuriated by the information put across in this film many days after viewing." - Courtney Howard, Very Aware
"Provides an in-depth look at the bigger picture: how the grim reality of breast cancer has been obscured by the very cause-related marketing (including the hawking of everything from gasoline to pink handguns) that is supposed to be helping…powerful."
– Josie Rubio, Viv Magazine
"An important film whose message goes beyond the single issue of breast cancer...Pink Ribbons, Inc. challenges us to ask harder questions, to be skeptical."
- Jocelyne Clarke, Point of View
"Thought-provoking at every turn... an enraging portrait of how easily good causes can get corrupted." -Tim Grierson, Backstage Magazine
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