Meaning of pinkwash | Babel Free

Definitions

1. To cover in a coat of pink paint.
   transitive
2. To promote consumer goods and services using support of breast cancer-related charities.
   transitive
3. To tout the gay-friendliness of something in an attempt to downplay or soften aspects of it considered negative.
   transitive

Examples

“[…] I see, twenty yards away, workmen pinkwashing the newly laid, badly stained, cheap-looking brick cladding of a newly built apartment house called — well, something ridiculous: Nepal, let's say.”

“They see such corporate involvement as exploitation, making profits on the backs of ill women. […] They claim these campaigns trivialize the disease, "pinkwashing" its real nature.”

“Gayle Sulik, sociologist and author of "Pink Ribbon Blues", said pinkwashing is only the beginning of how "breast cancer culture" undermines women's health.”

“Pinkwashing not only manipulates the hard-won gains of Israel’s gay community, but it also ignores the existence of Palestinian gay-rights organizations.”

“Critics say Israel is 'pinkwashing' its practices vis-a-vis the Palestinians by emphasizing its good record on gay rights.”

CEFR level