By Lacey Ossip
A bright, harsh shade of yellow has taken over the University. This has nothing to do with school spirit although this may remind some students that the University’s colors are royal blue and gold. It’s interesting to see that girls walking around with their Gucci aviators, Juicy Couture terry and Coach bags and guys with their Abercrombie glory would sport a color that clashes with most items they wear. Hard, rubber bracelets adorn the wrists of students all over campus, in addition to the rest of the country. If someone took a closer look, they would notice the slogan engraved on one side of the rubber. LIVESTRONG.
LIVESTRONG. What does this slogan/catch phrase mean? It would be believed to mean strength in life, to pursue all your hopes, dreams and aspirations through hardship. Some, however, may look at it as merely another passing fad in the urban popularity of today’s culture.
Lance Armstrong is the marketing genius behind these bracelets. A world-renowned bicyclist, Armstrong won his sixth straight Tour de France this summer. That’s an amazing feat in itself, but to top that off, he did it while being a cancer survivor.
Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996. Doctors told him that the cancer had spread to his lungs and his brain, and that he had a 50/50 chance of survival. In 1998 after an aggressive form of chemotherapy, Armstrong was back on his bicycle only a few short months later, and won his first Tour de France in July 1999.
Soon after his diagnosis, Armstrong founded the (non-profit) Lance Armstrong Foundation. According to www.laf.com, the foundation’s Web site, the foundation has four core program areas. They educate, advocate, support public health and promote cancer research.
Through his foundation, the self-proclaimed “toughest survivor on the planet,” decided that there was something he could do with his popularity to raise money for cancer research. That’s where LIVESTRONG was born.
“Before cancer I just lived. Now I live strong,” Armstrong said on his Web site.
The yellow wristbands have been seen on Armstrong’s wrist since he won his sixth Tour de France this summer. Now, everyone has to have them. The rubber bracelets cost $1, and all of the proceeds go to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. As of the month of September, over 13 million bracelets have been sold.
Although this great charity has raised a large sum of money for its cause, some pause and wonder if they are purchasing the bracelets for the right reasons. The reasons differ among students here at the University. Some are paying respects to someone they know who succumbed to cancer, while others are just hopping on the bandwagon.
“I wanted to buy a bracelet because my uncle died of cancer, but I don’t want people to think that I am buying it just to be cool. Or does it have to be for the same type of cancer that Lance Armstrong had?” Annie Berman, a junior psychology major, said.
“Yeah, I just bought one cause everyone else had it, and they’re cool,” Adam Goldberg, a senior business major, said.
There is now a waiting list for the LIVESTRONG bracelets, and on the Web sites where you can purchase them, a notice pops up that they are renovating the site to make it more suitable, and to handle the demand. If this hadn’t become such a popular thing to wear, would the Web sites be redoing their online process to buy the bracelet?
No matter if someone buys the bracelet because it’s the latest thing to have, or for charitable reasons, the money still goes to the same place. However, does that make a difference if your heart isn’t in the right place?
For more information on the Lance Armstrong Foundation, and LIVESTRONG, visit: www.wearyellow.com, www.laf.com or www.lancearmstrong.com.