Awareness ribbons adorn clothes and products to draw attention and support to causes. They have been used so frequently to represent such a wide variety of topics, that many colors and styles now represent more than one. Awareness ribbons symbolize issues related to all kinds of aspects of health, politics and society.
Physical Illnesses
Awareness ribbons are frequently used in campaigns to increase public awareness of diseases. For example, the pink ribbon associated with breast cancer can be seen everywhere as a personal accessory and as a logo on informational materials and commercial goods. Other colors of ribbons are also used for AIDS (red), cystic fibrosis (purple), multiple sclerosis (orange), asthma (gray) and other kinds of cancer (a variety of colors).
Mental Disorders
While ribbons for physical illnesses are more common, ribbons are used for mental disorders as well. Green ribbons have been used as a symbol for childhood depression awareness, while purple and orange have been used for attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, respectively. A ribbon with a jigsaw puzzle piece pattern has been used for autism spectrum disorder awareness. Silver has also been used for a number of mental illnesses, including anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Political Messages
Although both these types of ribbons relate to health, ribbons are used in other areas as well. Awareness ribbons originate from yellow ribbons used first as a sign of solidarity with a woman whose husband had been taken hostage overseas and then during the Gulf War as an expression of the wish for soldiers' safe return. Red, white and blue ribbons and ribbons decorated like the flag have been used as a symbol of patriotism, particular after the September 11th attacks. The heroes and the victims of this event have also been commemorated by purple ribbons. Ribbons have carried other kinds of political messages as well, like blue ribbons used to support the protection of free speech online and rainbow ribbons used to support gay rights.
Social Causes
Social causes have been another subject of ribbons. Ribbons that are half pink and half blue have been used as a symbol of support for pro-life ideas. White ribbons have been used as a symbol in a campaign to end gender violence, while purple ribbons have been used as a sign to end domestic violence, to promote religious tolerance and for Worker's Memorial Day. Green ribbons have been associated with environmental concerns.
Other Messages
Awareness ribbons are also worn for other reasons, such as personal signs of mourning and to support awareness of medical issues and conditions that don't fit into other categories of disease, like suicide awareness (yellow) and organ transplantation and donation awareness (green).
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