Today I got a message from one of my friends to post where you like to leave your purse as your Facebook status. It’s a follow-up to the bra color trend that overtook Facebook last year in honor of breast cancer awareness. I immediately sent it out to a horde of my female friends, then saw that one of my male buddies had posted a remark about how it doesn’t make sense and he’d rather people just donate to breast cancer research:
Why are girls playing another cryptic “game” to raise awareness about Breast Cancer? It worked last time because it actually had something to do with breasts (bra color), but this one (where you put your bookbag/purse) is just a ploy. You want to raise awareness? Donate and tell a friend to donate at www.komen.org and actually make a difference. I donated in honor of my Mom, the strongest woman and survivor I know.
To me, he completely missed the point of the potential that doing something as simple as this can have. You don’t raise awareness just by putting money towards a cause – that’s merely funding it. Raising awareness is to get dozens of others to think about the issue and get involved in their own way, whether through donating, volunteering, or otherwise. That is so much more powerful than just donating money yourself and asking your friends to do so too. To make something viral, it has to be more than just the usual message and this is something that gets people talking, whether they are baffled yet again at what is going on, or explaining what those “I like it” posts are about.
So here was the rest of our exchange:
Me: Hey, it got you to talk. And what else can be said about breasts after bras? The idea is just to make people think about it, which should in turn get them to act and/or donate.
Him: To think about it, it shouldn’t be some kind of secret game that men can’t play. That eliminates half the possible donating population. Instead of it just being a game, we should be encouraging each other to really make a difference.
Me: Only by making it a game does it catch a virus effect that can make it spread fast. Unfortunately traditional “hey you should donate to ____ cause” just doesn’t catch people’s attention. There are thousands of great causes and you gotta get creative with how you approach it. The secrecy lets women have some fun with it and men try to find out, which gets them involved too.
Maybe it shouldn’t be limited to something just women can participate in, but seeing as most cases of breast cancer are women, it makes sense that they are the ones who are allowed to lead this little campaign. Nothing wrong with a “ploy” if it’s meant to get people talking about an important issue like this. After all, every advertisement is just a ploy for your attention, much like this is.
I believe it’s a matter of taking this to the next step. Yes, it would be silly and foolish to just leave it at that, with no explanation. I was actually thinking of setting up a Facebook page to help explain, but getting enough people to it for it to be worthwhile would be difficult. I think the best thing would be for the Komen Foundation or another breast cancer awareness group to pick it up and each year come up with the theme, which is distributed virally. A week into Breast Cancer Awareness Month, all those in the know who had changed their statuses would then all change their status to something like “Join me in supporting breast cancer awareness by going to komen.org and donating to the cause!” The rest of the world, if they hadn’t caught on already, would then have a clear follow-up to the previously mysterious status messages.
And here was another person who wasn’t so sure about this whole thing:
I’m not saying this isn’t creative but will posting where you put your purse really cause people to think of breast cancer though? At least bras were directly connected to breasts but I know a lot of people who didn’t even know what the point of that was..
i think it would be better to be more “in your face” because people won’t know what this is about at all until waaay after the fact. i think it’d be better to maybe post a link to purse companies that give to breast cancer research or something like that.
i’m all for “out of the box” ways of spreading the message but as long as people can tell there is a message. it will just seem like any other facebook meme that has sexual innuendos..
sorry, i’m done ranting. don’t let me stop you from doing it though, if you really think it’ll put the message across.
And my response:
One of my friends wasn’t fond of it either and he said he’d rather people just go donate at komen.org, but I think that this is a good idea if after a few days of the status being up, everyone switches to something like “Support Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Donate at komen.org” And my thoughts on your friends points:
1. Other than bras, what is related to breasts? Not much else. By continuing this from last year, it builds a movement and each year more and more people can get involved, FEEL involved, and then donate money or volunteer or act in some way. So of course each year needs a new theme, so it’s fun for people to join in. It doesn’t have to be a “silly” Facebook fad that comes and goes – it can be something much more powerful. And seeing as how women get breast cancer something like 100:1 over men, obviously it makes sense to make it a female-centered thing to empower us to be the ones spreading the message. When guys see it and wonder what’s happening, it’s up to those participating to spread the message of awareness.
2. Posting a link to a purse company that supports breast cancer is so… YAWN. I’m sorry, but if I saw that, I would completely ignore it, like the 1000+ unread FB messages I’ve gotten from this group and that group. To create interest, you need to capture people’s attention and another “yay you should donate” message just gets lost in the hubbub of all the other junk we see. This movement is just like the NFL players wearing pink – what does that actually TELL you? Nothing. It’s up to people in the know to share the message and those curious to find out. And when things like that get noticed, news outlets cover it and they do a pretty good job of explaining.
3. Granted, it’s true that this trend needs a bit more clarification, but last year after the bra thing it got national coverage. How’s that for clarification? So that’s why I’d suggest a concerted effort to get people to actively get involved in supporting breast cancer research/awareness/prevention by changing the status right after this provoking one as a follow-up.
Traditional ways of putting the message across don’t get your attention like this kind of thing has the potential for. It is very viral, and therefore very powerful by putting the power in the hands of each participant to get involved and get others involved.
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October 6, 2010 9:57 am
All viewpoints are valid and in the end it is all good for exposure and awareness–people just choose different methods. For my friend, it came down to her direct exposure to breast cancer with a family member who died about a year ago and so she would rather not beat around the bush. I think as long as people know, and whatever it takes to get them to do something, all efforts are important 🙂
October 6, 2010 11:03 am
It’s interesting that the people most affected by the disease are the ones opposed to an effort to get it more publicity. I understand not wanting to “beat around the bush” but that’s what you do every day. A change of pace is good, once a year, and being direct by saying you should donate money doesn’t get people’s attention. When there are so many great causes out there, if you are direct and ask for support for this particular one, it won’t get you any further than the other causes. Seeing as it’s breast cancer awareness month, it makes sense to do something beyond the usual to garner attention. I just don’t understand why people are opposed to this when it’s not hurting their cause at all, and even trying to help. It may not yet be as effective as it could be, but it’s better than another ho-hum day with people knocking down your door asking for money for this cause and that cause.
I just saddens me that this is being attacked as if it’s harmful. It’s like the story my mom told about the good Samaritan who tries to help an elderly person who fell on the street and can’t get up, but then gets blamed for pushing them over. Except in this case I guess it’s more like as they approach the fallen gentleman/lady, that person misinterprets the good Samaritan as reaching their hand out to rob them. Unfortunate how things are misinterpreted. Perhaps we’ll just learn to stop trying to help then.