pinkwashing

[ pingk-wosh-ing, -waw-shing ]

noun

1. an instance or practice of acknowledging and promoting the civil liberties of the LGBTQ+ community, but superficially, as a ploy to divert attention from allegiances and activities that are in fact hostile to such liberties:

   Posturing has always been this mayor’s stock in trade, so it’s no surprise he’s adopted pinkwashing as his latest bogus appeasement of constituents he neither understands nor cares about.

2. the business practice of promoting breast-cancer awareness and research while in fact profiting from the manufacture and/or marketing of carcinogenic or other socially irresponsible products:

   It takes a little investigation, but it is possible to find companies chipping in to eradicate breast cancer without the pinkwashing.

3. the use, provision, or sale of pink ribbons, pink-ribbon logos, articles of pink clothing or sports equipment, etc., for promoting awareness of breast cancer and raising funds to support research and treatment:

   Every year, the garden center sponsors a day of “Petunia Pinkwashing,” during which all the profits from the sale of pink flowers go to cancer research.

Word History and Origins

Origin of pinkwashing¹

First recorded in 1810–20, in a literal sense; 2010–15 pinkwashing fordef 1; 2005–10 pinkwashing fordef 2; pink ¹( def ) + (white)washing ( def )

Example Sentences

The letter said likening queer people to cows was highly offensive and by liking the post, Leib was endorsing “pinkwashing,” which it said was a tactic to paint Arabs and Muslims as homophobic and thus use “queer identities as a tool to justify Israel’s ongoing genocide and illegal occupation of Palestine.”

From Los Angeles Times

They also believe that pink-ribbon campaigns focus too much on breasts and selling products and services, a practice known as "pinkwashing."

From Salon

The 2010s brought "pinkwashing," when some of the companies slapping pink ribbons on everything for breast cancer awareness were selling products linked to breast cancer.

From Salon

Only the entertainment industry comes under sustained attack this time around, courtesy of a pinkwashing subplot centered on the production of a Justice League knockoff called Rise of the Seven.

From Slate

Meanwhile, Pride in London somehow managed to rack up 73 “partners” in 2019, from headline sponsors Tesco to PlayStation, the Scouts, the London Stock Exchange, Revlon and Foxtons, amid criticisms that the politics has been drained out of it in favour of corporate “pinkwashing”.

From The Guardian