Breast-cancer charity Susan G. Komen’s has decided to pull funding from Planned Parenthood–an organization that provides subsidized breast cancer exams for lower-income women. Komen claims to be withholding funds because of new criteria barring it from providing grants to organizations that are under investigation by local, state or federal authorities. In and of itself, that is odd.
Author: Mara Einstein
Mara Einstein has been working in or writing about the media industry for the past 20 years. She has enjoyed stints as an executive at NBC, MTV Networks, and at major advertising agencies working on such accounts as Miller Lite, Uncle Ben’s and Dole Foods. Dr. Einstein is the author a number of books, most recently Compassion, Inc.: How Corporate America blurs the line between what we buy, who we are and those we help (University of California Press, 2012). This work examines the growing trend of promoting and selling consumer products as a means to fund social causes and effective social change. It builds on her continuing research into the effects of consumerism on social and cultural institutions, ideas considered at length in her last book, Brands of faith: Marketing religion in a commercial age (Routledge, 2007), a critique of promoting religion in today’s consumer-oriented culture. Dr. Einstein has written for Newsday and Broadcasting & Cable as well as having her work appear in academic journals and edited texts. She is currently a Mellon fellow researching faith-based weight loss and fitness programs as a conduit for considering the integration of the sacred and secular in American culture. Dr. Einstein is an Associate Professor at Queens College and an independent marketing consultant. Her blog is www.compassioninc.org.