Pinkwash

Origin

pink + wash

Full definition of pinkwash

Verb

1. To cover in a coat of pink paint.
• 1986, Susan Lardner, "Lotus Blossum", The New Yorker, 29 December 1986:... 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.
2. To promote consumer goods and services using support of breast cancer-related charities.
• 2008, Penelope Williams, Breast Cancer: Biography of an Illness, BPS Books (2008), ISBN 9780980923155, page 162: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.
3. (LGBT) To tout the gay-friendliness of something in an attempt to downplay or soften aspects of it considered negative.
• 2012, "Seattle LGBT commission cancels meeting with Israeli gays over treatment of Palestinians", The Times of Israel, 21 March 2012 (article tagline):Critics say Israel is 'pinkwashing' its practices vis-a-vis the Palestinians by emphasizing its good record on gay rights.