I am much more aware of breast cancer thanks to this campaign.

Proof that it’s a failed concept, nobody (not even you) remembers what it’s for, only that’s it’s a “landmark in viral marketing”. Pretty sad.

I thought it was a cool idea. Unfortunately, some missed the point… hence, my blog rant (and challenge)

Thank you for sharing. I was wondering what was going on.

I’m so glad that so many women participated in this amazing awareness campaign. (:

this is cute but what about the men? men can get breast cancer too!

It wasn’t just the girls….
http://www.facebook.com/MikeMueller?v=feed&story_fbid=271761395020

It’s about time the guys got to proclaim the color of their undergarments too!

http://bit.ly/6AHeFC

Could have been a great viral campaign from the Breast Cancer Fundation…

It’s also trivial and insulting to those who have suffered and presently suffering through any form of cancer to believe that posting your bra color is going to actually DO anything about it.

I think we are all pretty much “aware” of breast cancer along with other forms of cancer. In the past 10 years, I have lost two grandparents on BOTH sides of my family. I don’t need someone posting their bra color to make me anymore “aware” of cancer.

Stunts like this degenerates a real and very serious disease into something “cute” and “fun”. It does nothing to cure the disease, it just makes the participant feel better about themselves.

Once i found out, i made sure not to let the cat out of the bag, but i had a little fun with it myself. Great cause!

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/juanrperezjr?v=feed&story_fbid=241038025582

I guess it worked…maybe? Some got really rather snarky about it for whatever reason.

So for the guys….how about the color of your underwear to promote testicular and prostrate cancer awareness?

Having said that….blue.

I had no Idea this was ia campaign for breast cancer. Pretty cool, but how effective is any campaign if most everyone understands nothing of its meaning? Also I have plenty of male friends play along (posts stating ‘hair’, ‘ furry’,’ chainmail’ to name a few) Personally I’ve enjoyed playing along.
Signed, Conical (John Marc McConnell) :*D

Once i found out, i made sure i didn’t let the cat out of the bag, but i had my own fun too :

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/juanrperezjr?v=feed&story_fbid=241038025582

Amazing campaign. With no additional information about breast cancer, this campaign is nothing more than a virtual “flashing” of facebook. And what’s more, it’s not just WOMAN who are doing this. 12, 13, 14, 15, etc. year old girls are also now posting the color of their under garments on the internet. Absolutely abhor-able.

There should have been some sort of mention of the campaign in the status updates. Like, “Red – Breast Cancer Awareness” or something. It took quite a while for me to stumble upon the reasoning for these cryptic status updates. I would say this is a successful viral campaign but not an informative one.

Those people who are critical of the campaign are missing the point. Simply stating on your status “raise breast cancer awareness” wouldn’t have had people guessing, googling, emailing, and writing blogs and articles. The email itself, was a reminder to women to self examine. Men too were reminded that we are not unaffected by breast or testicular cancer. It was a great campaign, and the fact that it wasn’t sponsored by anyone should give us all comfort in appreciating the wonderful tools of communication that are in front of us, and it’s just an example of how we can use them.

To Scott Cason – I’m sorry you feel it trivialized cancer in any form. The message I received and then forwarded had the reminder of a self exam once the status had been changed. While it may have had the fun of confusing some people for a short time, the reason was out of the bag last night. And I received six messages from my lady friends that thanked me for forwarding the message and the reminder.

Maybe sometimes what may seem trivial actually has a hard impact. Who knows if (and I really hope this does not happen) one of those women (or any of the ones who received the message) may end up finding something wrong? And then seeing a doctor, and maybe surviving? We do not, and likely will not, ever know the true impact of something like this.

to quote the article,

Women have been posting single word updates with the color of their bra – red, black, and nude (if that is really a color).

I don’t know if nude is a color but I definitely know that Black is not! I think I learned this in grade 1

Ding, ding, ding! Ray Perez gets it.

I find it interesting–and sad–that some people were actually OFFENDED by this.

I heard some girls posted it in the beginning to see how dumb boys were, and then it spread to this whole breast cancer thing.

If it were to raise awareness for breast cancer why would you exclude men. Men can get breast cancer, and also men suffer when a loved one dies of cancer.

It is a stupid childish viral f-up that got the story spun into a heroic cancer awareness story. so sad how lame people are to believe this crap.

More to the point, maybe a bra manufacturer paid facebook to capture all of the one word status updates, cancel out all the non-colour words, and then see bra colour popularity stats…. marketing is that evil so I would be much more inclined to think this is the case, rather than some lame story about a secretive awareness campaign. (secretive awareness…. yes that sounds smart)

Dear Scott Cason,

Sorry for your lost Scoot, everyone that wants people to know about breast cancer awareness would offer that same condolence. Let’s say the people you lost to breast cancer has seen this “cute” “fun” message and thought to themselves, “Hey why don’t I give myself a breast exam right now” like thousands of women did when they played this “trivial” “insulting” status update.

It may have saved their lives Scott.
You have every right to be angry and hurt that they died. We just need you to show a little foresight and understanding.

So you are Well aware of the cost of breast cancer because you’ve already lost so many good people. Well there are millions of people who haven’t lost someone and might still if we don’t raise awareness which will lead to donations which may lead to cures. Awareness is a step, not an answer. You obviously have no idea how many conversation were started because of this little campaign and how it could save even one life and make it worth the Zero dollars that were spent creating it.

Why don’t you send your own email and ask people to donate to a cure right now like I’m doing.

I call this a FAIL. Yes there were 1000s of posts, but, NOONE knew why.
I posted as well as a bunch of my friends with knowing why.
To be a good viral campaign it should have a link to breastcancer.org or a
mention.

everyoone is saying this is a horrible message to be sending but did it or didit not remind you about breast cancer in a light way instead of sending a sad message talking bout it.i say right on with it. yellow

Was it necessary to put a sexy picture with this article. Breast Cancer Awareness in not about sex, it’s about saving lives…

Any thing that causes people to inquire…ask questions and seek answeres, implies the search for awareness. To those who can only find fault in this…pity.

This has become a reminder, to those of us who still have our breast health,to get checked, and hopefully keep them that way. Also,to think of the brave women,and yes men, who have been affected by breast cancer.

Bravo, to whom ever you are, that started this simple inspiration.

to the gentleman who thought this demeans something serious, i’d like to disagree. I think ‘raising awareness’ is about exactly this. Everyone was wondering what the colour thing was about and once they found out, participated. Ppl who would usually not give cancer a second thought, did and thru something ‘fun and cute’ they became aware. U don’t always have to be a morbid msg to highlight the seriousness of something!

Personally, the more intriguing something is, such as women simply stating the color of their bra, the more people are going to ask questions and find out what’s going on therefore having information presented to them that they may not have otherwise thought about. For each and every one of you who did not see the “message” and simply want to be negative about everything, shame on you. No one is making light of cancer, no one is ignoring the plight of men. Can you not just accept things for what they are and deal with it? Ok, so this was about breast cancer and geared toward women, not men, who can also get breast cancer. It was fun, it was intriguing, it was informative, IF you checked into why it was being done. Accept it and quit trying to find fault. It’s like planning a wedding, no matter how hard you try, no matter how much work you put into it, no matter how good your intentions, you ARE NOT going to please everyone. So come on those of you who just want to tear things apart, put on your big girl panties, or your big boy briefs/boxers and just DEAL WITH IT!

This campaign went over great on my facebook site.Friends and relatives all did it (females that is)All of us has lost a loved one by cancer of any sort.
BREAST CANCER AWARENESS THUR COLORS

its a nice campaign ….. cant call it cute … but a good way to start a global awareness. at least it can be called a first step for many women who shy away from the topic, and even feel ashamed to go to the hospital for a check up.
My grandma died 2 months back due to a different cancer. i dont think any one should be bitter about the death. all we need to do is go for checkups once every 2 years, both genders,for the various cancers. cant be sorry if we ourselves do not take the effort.
who ever started this 3 cheers to u and all the ladies for this effort

It wasn’t started by anybody from Detroit. It was started through sorority life on face book by a loving caring lady, with 700 friends

My question is what if a woman is not wearing a bra but wants to participate!!

Hard to believe that it was “a reminder to women to self examine. Men too were reminded that we are not unaffected by breast or testicular cancer.”

Where did that come from? How do you know it wasn’t a fundraising reminder for cancer charities? Or a reminder to get a PAP test? Seems to me it was a piece of childishness that opened the door for people like this All Facebook blogger a chance to post a photo of a woman in her underclothes.

I thought this was a great idea. Through this campaign I found out a lady I’ve known for years lost a breast to cancer. Another local woman talked about going through treatment for Hodgkin’s which she had until then not told anyone about. It was kept secret from the men in the beginning and posted as it was to get people questioning and talking. I think most people are missing the obvious point!! Every time we see a color posted it symbolizes one more person whose life has been affected by cancer. Raising money for a cure is one thing…raising AWARENESS is another thing entirely!

Donno whether this has to do something with the whole thing

======================

You all have seen the trend women are creating to raise awareness of breast cancer. In light of that, National Foundation for Prostate Cancer Research (nfcr.org) had decided to take advantage of the hype to raise awareness of much less discussed problem men face.

Since research shows that frequency of ejaculation dramatically reduces the risk of cancer all men are requested to update the status with the number of times that they have ejaculated today

I actually wrote a limerick for the occasion. It goes like this:

White, hot pink, lavender, leopard, none

Who knew being viral could be such fun.

but what color you wearness

should turn into awareness

Or what was it we were supposed to have done?

If you want to read the rest, check out my blog post
http://joycefied.wordpress.com/2010/01/09/a-colorful-cure/

As an “awareness” campaign this was less than useless since it included no information on what it was allegedly raising awareness about.
As a person who has lost several loved ones, including my wife, to cancer, may I suggest diverting all that energy to something a little more useful?
For a meme, it’s a little bit longer than the useless one; it requires three things: a charity, a color, and a number. The charity is your preferred cancer research, the color is the background color of your check, the number is the number of zeros between the leftmost digit and the decimal point of the check amount

I love women in bra’s ..and out of them..More Bra features is what I say.

Pain in the ass spamfest. More social noise pollution in an already garbage-filled medium.

Thank you, viral marketing, for ensuring I never make a donation for breast cancer.

As a cancer survivor I had fun with it and I hope everyone else did as well.
@ Scott Cason I’m sorry for your loss, my Mother in Law lost her battle with breast cancer a couple of years ago, I have other family that have been fighting cancer over the years as well. I don’t think this was done to cause hurt or harm to anyone and I’m sorry you think this way. One of the biggest things that’s helped me and continues to help me is my attitude, this little game cheered me up and gave me strength to go on fighting another day.

For more information about the man who started the Facebook campaign:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9ZfM8AqxgE

The campaign didn’t succeed in actually doing anything, so it can hardly be called successful. It’s not like I saw the meme, looked down and went OH MY GOD I HAVE BREASTS I HAD BETTER TAKE CARE OF THEM.

Also, of course, it excludes any woman who doesn’t wear a bra, perhaps because she’s had a double mastectomy. And it excludes men, except men who are following the campaign to find out what colour your underwear is.

It has generated a great deal of noise, and a great deal more information about people’s underwear than I ever really wanted. It hasn’t actually generated change, and the only awareness that it’s generated is awareness of underwear.

To think this will be a standard in how viral campaigns can be spread is probably a little optimistic. There’s a certain amount of memes that users can adopt before viral response rates will fall. I suspect this campaign relied on narcissism concealed under the premise of non-profit awareness to spread. These factors combined with the sheer novelty value of this meme led to the viral adoption of the message. I think chances are slim of replicating this type of campaign more than a few times per year.

Viral campaigns fail when they’re used by corporations who hire the inappropriate named Wexley School for Girls guys. Free campaigns by users for users are key. However, most people make their profiles private which is good.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=info&ref=mf&gid=239148479410

I just thought I would post my group on here too, we are also trying to raise awareness for breast cancer research based on this viral campaign.

Please check it out.

Actually, my fiancee is the one who started this. She’s a breast cancer survivor, and thought it’d be fun way to get people thinking about it. The text posted in this blog post is a slightly modified version of what she originally sent out…looks like somebody else wanted to put their mark on it. She’s completely shocked that it took off like it did. It had no political overtones or anything like that. She just wanted to raise awareness, and tweak men’s noses at the same time.

Obviously if everyone is googling it and asking about it, it got more people’s attention than a dull ad going “Get a mammogram”. That goes in one ear and out the other. Allowing people to participate is just a fun reminder to get examined and stay healthy.

For those of you who say this viral awareness campaign was unsuccessful, I beg to differ. I have just read over 30 post that mention breast cancer, lost loved ones and breast exams. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT IT!!!!!!

“Some fun is going on,which is also raising awareness of Prostate Cancer Just write “briefs” , “boxers,” “jocks,” or “commando” in your status. Just the word, nothing else. It will be cool to see if this will spread Prostate cancer awareness. It will be fun to see how long it takes before people wonder why all the men describe their shorts in their status.”
We’re copying a worldwide effort started by Breast Cancer activists, who are updating their facebook status with their bra color. In the spirit of emulation being a sincere form of flattery, why not?

it may not have been made clear here, but an email was sent (via facebook) explaining what it was about, encouraging females to join in, and that women should get checked / check themselves. The wording was slightly different on each of the emails I got but essentially the same thing

There was also a comment about seeing how long it too dumb men to figure out which I thought was counterproductive.

For all of you complaining and saying it really did nothing and that young girls were participating well think outside the box. I have a friend who is a busy mom and had not done a self exam in a year and this was a fun reminder for her to do one. She will have the lump she found checked this week. It was a personal reminder for me to make my yearly appt. and for my tween daughter who just started wearing bras it opened the door for her and I to talk comfortably about her growing body because it was a fun secret we had from her dad. Stop naysaying and rejoice if it made one woman do an exam.

@Scott Cason

It’s too bad about your loss. Well, I guess it really was their loss, you are still alive. What exactly do you want done about it? What should we do? After all, it’s not like this thing was designed to make you cry! Awareness is the first step to change, and now I am more aware of the issue, I and people like myself, who were not aware before. Obviously people in your situation were aware, and once again I am slightly sorry for you, but who are you, grieving or not , to tell us how we should act in any way? Hmmm?

“Awareness,” Matthew wrote, “is the same as rhetoric. Like propaganda without the marketing. It’s air. I welcome any cultural anthropologist to demonstrate successful awareness without action.”

makes me upset that, like with the live strong “craze”, people are using breast cancer as a whimsical way to post their bra color and revel in the way face book responds/ supports their never assuaged need for self promotion

” I suspect this campaign relied on narcissism concealed under the premise of non-profit awareness to spread. may I suggest diverting all that energy to something a little more useful?
For a meme, it… See More’s a little bit longer than the useless one; it requires three things: a charity, a color, and a number. The charity is your preferred cancer research, the color is the background color of your check, the number is the number of zeros between the leftmost digit and the decimal point of the check amount”

I’m a breast cancer survivor and I didn’t like it. I can’t put my finger on just why but the whole thing just rubbed me the wrong way. I think it might be the fact that we are already ‘aware’ of breast cancer. You can’t walk down any aisle in any store without seeing something pink. There are cancers out there that need the attention and awareness that breast cancer gets. How about a pancreatic cancer awareness…or thyroid cancer? Something that affects a less glamorous body part maybe?

And I hate secrets. I hate having them kept from me and I hate keeping them. This whole ‘don’t tell anyone’ just goes against my nature or something.

To all of you who are negative on this topic. REALLY?
Why be so ignorant over something that was supposed to be fun and help other remember to mark their calendars for their annual exam! I marked mine…
I fortunately havent lost anyone in my family to cancer, of any sort, but I do have MANY friends who have had to go through the hardship and even lost a couple. Why would you think this was a bad idea, when many MEN and women have thought about themselves AND REMINDED others to get checked out.
Many people face cancer, many pass, but why be so negative about those who have or are going through cancer that want to have a lil fun with sharing the color of their bra or boxers. My thoughts are if you couldnt beat it… have fun while you can, you dont have to be an ass to everyone bc your unhappy with the way your life has gone. And I believe that most of the “color status’” that viraled around were from those who are getting a kick out of this ‘game’ on facebook and smile to know that someone they haven’t EVER met… is thinking of them, in THEIR time of need.
Scooter (scott) … you and others dont understand how this could be ‘awareness or a form of charity’ when money wasnt involved… so why do we Pay to run in the Race of the Cure… Why run? Waste your energy for something you dont get out of it in the end other then being sweaty, stinky, sore and tired? Why not just give them your money and leave, since you are all about the money side of things, and call it a day! ………..These people get out there to run, bc they care.. and they could be running beside someone who has fought and WON the battle of this nasty disease. So for us who put a color on our status, we did it to support those to whom we are friends with that are battling or have conquered the disease we call CANCER.. money isn’t everything… sometimes just being there for someone, can be a great remedy!
So those who are negative… GET OVER YOUR SELF!
and for those who care…. Pink

I am much more aware of breasts thanks to this campaign.

I think it’s pretty amusing that someone has to hear about a “game” online, or read something about this said “game” to be aware of breast cancer.
How can you NOT be aware of it?

The Charles Burch Breast Cancer Foundation™
Started The Facebook Bra Color Movement
& Brought Global Awareness Back To Breast Cancer
“Facebook Bra Color Status Updates Explained”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9ZfM8AqxgE
http://www.youtube.com/cbbcf
http://www.Causes.com/thecbbcf
http://www.Facebook.com/thecbbcf
http://www.Facebook.com/cbbcf