Ribbons 101: A Breakdown of Awareness Symbols

The awareness ribbon has become a ubiquitous element of American culture. You see them worn as lapel pins by celebrities and politicians. You see them on billboards and commercials, on T-shirts and hanging in windows. So, what do they all mean? And when did all this start, anyway?

Awareness ribbons are a relatively new trend. According to The American Folklife Center, it all started with the yellow ribbon. In his article “Yellow Ribbons: Ties with Tradition,” Gerald E. Parsons details the first real media attention given to a ribbon as a symbol for a cause. In fact, the trend can be traced back to a news appearance by Penelope Laingen in January of 1981.

Her husband was a hostage in Iran at the time. She was asked why she tied a yellow ribbon around the tree in her front yard. Mrs. Laingen replied,  ”It just came to me,” she said, “to give people something to do, rather than throw dog food at Iranians. I said, ‘Why don’t they tie a yellow ribbon around an old oak tree.’ That’s how it started.” She was, in fact, inspired by the song “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Ole Oak Tree,” which was popular during the 1970s. I doubt that Mrs. Laingen had any idea about the far reaching cultural impact that her choice to tie a bit of yellow ribbon around a tree would have, but the trend of awareness ribbons is still going strong today.

Now that you know something about their beginnings, let’s take a look at the state of the awareness ribbon today. There is no great and powerful ruling body of awareness ribbons, so any one color ribbon can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

For example, although yellow ribbons are commonly used to show support for U.S. armed service members, there is an entire spectrum of ribbons to raise cancer awareness. Here is the generally accepted awareness ribbon color chart for cancers:

Photo by Tessa Ann's Buttons on flickr.com

Pink: Breast Cancer
Teal: Ovarian Cancer
Pearl: Lung Cancer
Purple: Pancreatic Cancer & Leiomyosarcoma
Orange: Leukemia and Kindey Cancer
Black: Melanoma
Navy: Colon Cancer
Burgundy: Multiple Myeloma
Grey: Brain Cancer
Blue: Prostate Cancer
Gold: Childhood Cancer & Osteosarcoma
Burgundy & Ivory: Head & Neck Cancer
Lime: Lymphoma
Peach: Uterine Cancer
Teal and White: Cervical Cancer
Yellow: Sarcoma, Bone Cancer and Bladder Cancer
Green: Liver Cancer
Periwinkle: Esophageal Cancer and Stomach Cancer
Teal, Pink and Blue: Thyroid Cancer
Lavender: All Cancers
Orchid: Testicular Cancer
Amber: Appendix Cancer
Marigold, Blue and Purple: Bladder Cancer

These days, most awareness ribbons also have text identifying what the ribbon symbolizes. Does that defeat the purpose of color-coded awareness ribbons? Perhaps, but something tells me that they are still here to stay.