Icelanders Dress in Pink Today

Are you wondering why so many people in Iceland - a nation not known for dressing in bold colors - are dressed in pink today? Enjoy our taste today, for we’ll be back in black tomorrow. The reason is simple: Today is what we call Pink Day – an annual campaign to bring awareness to cancer and to support the fight against this common disease. The campaign’s motto is, You Are not Alone, emphasizing the importance of support and friendship when a woman is diagnosed with cancer.

Individuals and businesses are encouraged to show their support for women who have suffered from cancer by wearing the pink bow – a necklace sold at a number of stores for ISK 2,500 a piece in support of the Icelandic Cancer Society - by dressing in pink or illuminating with pink lights. The society offers systematic screening for breast and cervical cancer.

Every year, about 800 women in Iceland are diagnosed with cancer, 200 of them with breast cancer. About 80 percent of Icelanders either know someone who has been diagnosed with cancer, or have been diagnosed themselves.

“Sale of the pink bow went extremely well at the beginning of the campaign,” Sigríður Sólan Guðlaugsdóttir, the Cancer Society’s PR representative states. The fancier version, 240 of which were made, sold out in three days.

This year the bow, normally a brooch, is in the form of a necklace, designed by Aurum jeweler Guðbjörg Kristín Ingvarsdóttir. She made two gold copies of the bow, to be auctioned in support of the cause. You can place a bid on the jewelry until 4 pm, October 15, on the campaign’s – Bleika slaufan - Facebook page.