changemakers 1 | Page 10

Breast Cancer awareness on facebook- helpful or clutter?

'While viral campaigns have great potential for increasing consciousness around many issues, we’d like to see this go further". - Breast Cancer Awareness Spokesperson

10

Starting in 2010, a chain of viral messages got sent around to women on Facebook through one person sending it to many, and each of the many sending it to even more (etc), until Facebook itself was infested with messages that referenced, at first glance, where they liked doing something that appeared to be sexual. Phrases like “I like it on the couch” were common as statuses on Facebook for a long period of time, and confused men that read them became intrigued because of the noticeable ambiguity. In reality, it was a secret that they actually referred to where women at first put their purses when they get back home, even if it did sound entirely sexual. This was done and activated by the female members of Facebook just to spread awareness of Breast Cancer, and owed the success of its viral-ness to the fact that it successfully employed enigma codes and shock tactics. It was an easy cause to support- the effort required to make the only statement that seemed necessary, involved only updating a status, and the cause was easily supported because breast cancer can affect every single woman. Therefore, the campaign became very popular and the number of statuses on Facebook containing this ambiguity skyrocketed. A spokesman for Breast Cancer Care, who was not at all affiliated with the campaign (even Facebook itself did not officially support it) claimed that “While viral campaigns have great potential for increasing consciousness around many issues, we’d like to see this go further” and “We would encourage people to direct their Facebook friends towards helpful support and information to create better breast awareness … or reminding their friends to check their breasts regularly when they explain what the campaign is about.”