Yesterday, I was rather puzzled when I noticed some female friends posting the names of colors as their Facebook statuses: blues, white, red, and even dandelion print.
According to the blog Cancerspot.org, “…the hues represent bra colors. So, like every good Facebooker, I played along by peeking in my shirt and updating my status: Beige. What I turned up on the Internet is that the purpose of this color thing is to simply raise awareness of breast cancer.”
Though a Google search unearths several similar theories, no official source is claiming responsibility for the awareness stunt.
I am starting to wonder if this is actually some sort of prank. I just now received a Facebook message from a friend who would never write me a message like this, especially one with so many overdone ellipses and extraneous/missing punctuation marks:
I was sent this…and we are playing a game…… silly, but fun! Write the color of your bra as your status, just the color, nothing else!! Copy this and pass it on to all girls/Females …… NO MEN!! This will be fun to see how it spreads, as we are leaving the men wondering why all females just have a color as their status!! Have fun supporting breast cancer xx
Is the breast cancer awareness Facebook posting an actual virus and not so much a viral way to raise awareness? Could it be that, when you post a color, you unknowingly send this poorly-written message to all your Facebook friends? I wonder if this is true.
What’s the point of posting bra colors anyway? And how does your bra color increase awareness for breast cancer? Most Facebook users are confused about why women are posting colors. How could something that makes absolutely no sense help promote awareness of a cause? When I first saw a color posted, I guess that the young woman was showing allegiance to a certain sports team.
Yes, when you tell me the color of your bra, I am suddenly aware that you have breasts.
However, I’m not so much thinking about the 40,170 women who died from breast cancer in 2009 (I had to Google that fact – so much for breast cancer awareness, despite the fact that my Facebook news feed is flooded with the names of colors). Instead, I’m judging you for participating in such a stupid and unoriginal viral stunt and also for the color of your bra (you totally would be wearing a hot pink bra with an illustration of Tweety bird on the left cup).
Oh, and see that message I quoted up there? “Have fun supporting breast cancer”? Seriously?
Next time you decide to participate in something on the Internet, make sure you know what you’re doing and understand the full implications and consequences of your actions.
(Photo by one of my college roommates, December 2005)
This was exactly my feeling. Instead of taking the time to post a flirty message about underwear and trying to draw attention to yourself, it would have been campaign-better-spent to influence women to donate $1 to research, or a particular Breast Cancer related charity. Or, posting the color with a link where others could learn more and donate.
Agreed — This campaign (if that’s what it was) did jack squat to cure, treat or diagnose breast cancer. There was a similar meme floating around Twitter last year (#boobs or whatever).
Still, it’s interesting that women would play along, just as men and women play along with FourSquare and Gowalla. Outside of entertainment, the consumers don’t gain anything by playing.
Maybe there should be a FourSquare-type game where women can win badges for performing self-exams. Wouldn’t that do more to promote breast cancer prevention than sharing the color of my bra?
Just think: I could be the mayor of my own breasts! Woot!