Fact Check

Cigna Breast Cancer Awareness

Does CIGNA's web site donate money for breast cancer research?

Published Oct. 30, 2000

Claim:

Claim:   The CIGNA foundation will donate $1 towards breast cancer research for every visitor who clicks the pink ribbon on their web site.


Status:   Was true, but has now ended.

Example:   [Collected on the Internet, 2002]




Just Do It!

Do this not because it was sent to you.

Do this not because you feel it is an obligation.

Do this for your mothers, your daughters, your aunts, your grandmothers, and every other woman you know and love.

I did.

You can help. All you need is about ten seconds and you can make a difference.

This only takes 10 seconds and you don't have to do anything else. If you go to the Cigna web site and click on the pink ribbon, Cigna will donate $1.00 to fight breast cancer. Only good the month of October - pass it on!

https://www.cignafoundation.org/



Origins:   October is

Breast Cancer Awareness

Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and every October one or more corporate sponsors display the pink ribbon symbol of breast cancer awareness on their web sites and offer to make donations to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research, keying the amount contributed to the number of visitors to grace their web sites. This year one such sponsor was the CIGNA foundation, an offshoot of the CIGNA corporations, providers of insurance and health care coverage.
(Previous sponsors have included the NFL and Yahoo! Health.)

These charitable contributions are always capped, and the CIGNA foundation was offering to donate $1 per click for every visitor to their web site up to a total of $100,000. Since both the NFL and Yahoo! Health reached their donation thresholds on the very first day of their campaigns (the NFL recorded a whopping 1.75 million visitors that first day alone), chances were that CIGNA's contributions would quickly reach their stated limit as well.

Indeed they did: By 26 October CIGNA had removed the link and replaced it with a "Thank You" message stating that CIGNA was "pleased to let you know that we not only met our goal but exceeded it." The campaign is over, so there's no point in circulating the e-mail further in an attempt to incite friends and co-workers to ensure the donation threshold is reached. Those who regret not having the opportunity to be part of this campaign should find comfort in the knowledge that $100,000 did end up being directed towards breast cancer research.

Last updated:   2 October 2007


David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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