Everyone knows the universal symbol of breast cancer: the pink ribbon. Promoted by the Union for International Cancer Control, it pops up everywhere, from retail shops to government offices, each ...

“This month, you will see, all over every store in America, products adorned with the pink ribbon and pushing the breast cancer cause.” October is breast cancer awareness month.

Eventually, the association with the cause spread beyond the ribbon to the color pink itself. In 2006, TIME reported that Komen’s partnerships with pink promoters raked in $30 million a year.

Barb Van Tolingen, the manager of the Pink Ribbon Boutique, is seen in the Henrico store Wednesday. “I never knew what I was good at until I started doing this,” Van Tolingen said.

In August, people dumped buckets of ice water over their heads to raise money to fight ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Now it's October, time for pink-ribbon products and events to raise ...

Some of the pink-ribbon promotions don’t make much sense financially. Take Yoplait’s offer to donate 10¢ to the Komen Foundation for every pink yogurt lid mailed to the company from ...