Viral Video

A few months ago, someone emailed the link for the “Pink Glove Dance” to me and I actually watched the whole thing, which is quite unusual for me because I generally lose interest in this type of thing within a few seconds of it playing. In this video, workers at a hospital all wear pink gloves and dance/move to catchy music to increase breast cancer awareness.

In the December 14, 2010 Nurse.com News, Cathryn Domrose reports that the video had “gone viral” on YouTube. The 3½ minute video, produced by Medline Industries, Inc. about a year ago, was passed on through websites and e-mail. It received 12 million hits and inspired at least 80 similar videos, including a Medline-produced sequel released in October 2010. Medline Industries, who manufacturers the disposable pink gloves, is donating $1 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation for every case of pink gloves it sells, and has so far given more than $500,000 to the Foundation. The donations help fund mammograms for those who cannot afford them.

In the Medline sequel, which had more than 270,000 hits as of December 14, 2010, cancer survivors dance in Times Square in New York, against the backdrop of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and in the snow in Minnesota. In Chicago, survivors wearing pink shirts are greeted by health care workers in blue scrubs who link arms with them and begin spinning.

It’s great to see that the positive message of the “Pink Glove Dance” has been embraced across the country and prompted a sequel. In addition, the manufacturer of the pink gloves has generously supported breast cancer screening and detection—a win-win situation all around.