Bookstore Thinks Pink

Shoppers at the Tulane Bookstore on the uptown campus will usually find a few pink sweatshirts and T-shirts along with the standard Tulane green-and-blue colors. But in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the bookstore is really thinking pink.

Pink is very visible at the Tulane Bookstore in the Lavin-Bernick Center during Breast Cancer Month. (Photo by Larry Jones)

Pink water bottles, special T-shirts, wristlets and even pink TicTac mints are on display in the Lavin-Bernick Center bookstore, all to help raise funds for breast cancer research during October.

“Were bringing a lot of attention to this — and it's time,” says Larry Jones, store manager.

The store also is using social media to rally financial support for the cause — “more student-friendly in a medium they want to use,” Jones says. For every student who temporarily changes his or her Facebook profile picture to a pink ribbon, which symbolizes support for those with breast cancer, Barnes & Noble College Booksellers will donate $1 to the national Breast Cancer Coalition (up to $5,000). Barnes & Noble operates the bookstore.

To kick off the promotion, the bookstore changed its Facebook profile picture to the pink ribbon symbol. Fans can simply save that picture to their desktop, upload it as their own profile picture, then leave a comment on the bookstore's fan page.

Jones said fans don't need to use the pink ribbon as their profile picture for the entire month — as long as they use it at some point during October, and leave a comment on the bookstore's fan page, their participation will be counted toward the donation.

“We're talking to people to get them to 'fan' us and talk to their friends,” Jones says. “It's personal — and it's an easy way for people to support this program.”