Breast Cancer Cyber-Activism
Case Study
“Statistics from the American Cancer Society suggest that yearly, about 2,600 new cases of breast cancer in men are diagnosed and that breast cancer causes approximately 440 deaths in men (in comparison, almost 40,000 women die of breast cancer each year). Breast cancer is 100 times more common in women than in men.”
Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD. (2017)
Have you ever heard the statement “laughter is the best medicine.” Well, I think this is where people were headed when the secret Facebook statuses were created for Breast Cancer. Fun and creative activities will almost always catch the attention of your audience and gain participation. However, cyber-activism should not only bring awareness, but also encourage actions.
THE VIRAL MESSAGE
As Many of us know social media is the perfect way to spread awareness or get the word out. Years ago a secret message started being passed around Facebook asking ladies to put random (sexualized) items as a status. The goal was to bring awareness Breast cancer but keep the message from males.
- Their name and the color of their bra. Victoria, Pink.
- Where they keep their purse. “I like it on the dining room table.”
Due to the emotion and empathy drawn in with these tactics people tend to feel as though they are associated with a good cause or charity. This gave women the knowledge of breast cancer awareness month, but what about the men.. This is where the cyber-activism campaign took a turn for the worst.
Why the Campaign was disrespectful in some peoples eyes.
There are several reasons why this type of cyber-activism was considered unsuccessful. The first serving no tangible action. As stated above posting the color of your bra has no influence on how you choose to support the breast cancer charity, such as donations. Secondly, some people had no idea what this status was about and thought the only goal behind it was to confuse the males of Facebook. Finally, as mentioned in the beginning quote, men are also diagnosed with breast cancer and have family members diagnosed. Why would they not want to spread awareness or contribute to its cause.
Where they could improve
- Attach links to the messages on how and where to volunteer for the cause.
- Attach links to web pages for breast cancer donations
- Post and repost articles that bring forward information about breast cancer statistics.
- Continue posts throughout the year and not just the month of October.
- Allow men to support the cause of breast cancer and do not shut them out.
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