pinkwashing
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.33 in modern English
24
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The practice of a state or company presenting itself as gay-friendly and progressive to downplay its negative behavior.
Uncountable
noun
The practice of a company using support of breast cancer-related charities to promote itself and its products or services.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Several protesters, many of whom said they were Jewish, invoked what they called pinkwashing, Israel's alleged touting of its progressive stance on gay rights as a way of deflecting global attention away from its treatment of Palestinians."
- "One such pinkwashing campaign was KFC's "Buckets for the Cure," an attempt by the fried chicken franchise to raise breast cancer awareness in partnership with Susan G. Komen for the Cure."
- "Today, the pink-washed versions of toys that had been marketed solely to boys for decades are touted as a shift toward gender-neutrality."
Etymology
From pink + -wash + -ing. The LGBT-related sense derives from the fact that the colour pink is often associated with homosexuality and LGBT culture. The breast cancer-related sense refers to the pink ribbon, an international symbol of breast cancer awareness.