I’m not sure if this is more sad or funny, but it speaks volumes about the intersection of commerce, charity, and the politics which frequently poison both. In what is admittedly an unexpected pairing, Baker Hughes Incorporated – a major energy producer with more than 3,000 rigs operating around the world – teamed up with Susan G. Komen to raise charitable funds and increase breast cancer awareness. In a move similar to the ones undertaken by the NFL and countless other organizations, they adopted the pink color code as part of the effort.

Pink firearms. Pink NFL jerseys. Even pink buckets of fried chicken. Now pink drill bits?

As Baker Hughes joins a string of other companies coating their products in the rose-colored shade to raise awareness about breast cancer, some may wonder if the pink ribbon campaign has gone a bit too far. After all, drill bits spend most of their lives miles underground breaking up geologic formations in oil patches where a fraction of workers are women.

But the Houston-based oil field services company says that’s precisely the point.

“Our hope is from the water cooler to the rig site to the coffee shop to everywhere, someone gets this information to their spouses, their girlfriends, their daughters so we can create awareness and end this disease forever,” said Bill Debo, director of operations for U.S. land drill bits at Baker Hughes.

In researching energy stories over the past several years, I’ve spent some time on rigs of various types, and even I’ll admit that pink drill bits are a bit off the beaten path in terms of what you expect to see. But hey… maybe that’s the idea. Charity marketing isn’t my area.

No matter the method, the bottom line is that a successful company is putting in the effort and resources to help out a charitable cause, so it’s a win – win, right? You might think so, but not everyone is going to be on board with that theory. You see, Baker Hughes engages in fracking. (Horizontal hydraulic fracturing for natural gas and oil.) And in the eyes of pretty much every group on the Left, this makes Baker Hughes evil and anything they touch is tainted by association. The idea of their helping with the fight against breast cancer apparently sent Sandra Steingraber at EcoWatch spinning out of orbit.

Susan G. Komen, the largest breast cancer organization in America with more than 100,000 volunteers and partnerships in more than 50 countries, has teamed up with Baker Hughes, one of the world’s largest oilfield service companies with employees in more than 80 countries. Susan G. Komen hands out pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness, and Baker Hughes fracks. So, there you have it: a pink, fracking, drill head.

That’s Susan G. Komen pink, by the way. It’s special. Like John Deere green. And that signature color has been painted by hand on a thousand drill bits, which will soon be shipped by Baker Hughes to well pads all over the world, thus facilitating a thousand fossil fuel extraction projects just in time for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

I won’t reproduce it here, but they’ve crafted a simply lovely image including the pink drill head and the message that This is NOT OK. I swear, if some offshoot of the chemical engineering research done by Baker Hughes resulted in the development of a compound which cured breast cancer, some of these people would eschew it, turning up their noses and expressing a preference for death rather than accepting anything from a fracker.

Maybe they should really put the pressure on to have Baker Hughes pull their resources and not help out. Taking resources away from the effort to cure cancer would really teach those evil energy companies a lesson. And while they’re at it, I assume that they are very upset with the NFL for not ending domestic violence in America. Any chance they could get them to stop dressing all the players in pink accessories? Nah… that’s probably too much to ask.