Can a Breast Cancer Meme help the cause?
This Breast Cancer Awareness Meme case study is quite interesting and definitely makes me reflect on many causes I have seen promoted on social media and whether or not they actually encouraged me to act or to change my behavior in any way.
The first question arises about what qualities of the Facebook breast cancer awareness meme make it so viral in nature? Why would thousands of social media users want to participate and share with their friends? I believe this comes down to a couple things. First, this viral campaign was pitched to as many females as possible and encouraged them to share it will other females and to keep secret the meaning behind this campaign from any males. This targeted a sector of gender that felt like banding together would help promote the Breast Cancer Awareness Movement. Changing your status can really draw attention as Facebook has engineered things to do so. Second, the added hints and insinuation of sexuality mixed into each phase of posts just drew even more attention to a large audience attracted to that kind of humor. These types of posts are always fun to share and usually get tons of Facebook likes.
A second question comes to light in how did the social media meme fall short of user mobilization? What changes could be made to make more of a difference to breast cancer causes? I believe this meme accomplished the first phase of engagement goals of reaching thousands of viewers and engaging them in the excitement of this humorous meme. The problem is it did now allow any of this audience an avenue to make a change with any specific behavior. Most every organization would benefit more from messages that were tied to practical real-life mobilization efforts (Mahoney, 2017). One specific examples of a change to this campaign would have been to add a link to a place where you can take some sort of action, like donate money or your time.
Here is an example where Susan G. Koman (did the exact thing needed to effect change with an action by mobilizing their followers:
This topic of mobilization can apply to so many organizations and I recall one that was involved with many years ago. My friend Rick Davidson was a quadriplegic. I helped him for an organization called Positive Changes that raised money to assist other handicapped members of society with their basic needs. We had a big golf tournament every year to raise funds. I went back and looked at his posts and most where just pictures of all of our events. We could have done a better job mobilizing our followers to take action to effect change for those handicap people in need. One idea would have been to have smaller fundraisers for each person in need like Susan G. Koman is doing. It is just hindsight, but sure might have worked.
This is a photo of Rick and myself. Rick passed in 2018. Rest in Peace my friend! You did a lot of good for people.
Through more action-oriented mobilization approaches, your message will transform audiences into more interested, knowledgeable and vested advocates for your cause (Mahoney, 2017).
Reference:
Mahoney, L. M., & Tang, T. (2017). Strategic social media: From marketing to social change. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.
This was a great post to read. You asked questions, and as the reader, I took time to try to answer them before continuing with your post. What really stood out to me the most was your unpacking of what could be done differently. Diving into what the memes did correctly is important. But it’s also important to explore what could be done differently. As someone in business (and especially marketing), there is a need to constantly re-evaluate processes and decisions.
While the memes had function, there was more that could’ve been done. Calling users to action would’ve been more useful. It would’ve mobilized users — calling them to take actual steps. This could have raised money, and actual awareness across channels.
I also like that you gave an example of how the change could’ve occurred — giving a personal flair. If everyone did what you did, there would be real change. Do you think it’s likely that we can get rid of this trend of cyber-activism?
Hello Joel,
I certainly enjoyed your blog post on the breast cancer awareness memes case. This case was tricky because in your readings you understand that the topic of breast cancer can be seen as sensitive, and in this case study my opinions were slightly mixed on the effectiveness of the memes. The memes initially seemed like they were a running joke at first by many women posting, but at some point the posts got attributed to breast cancer awareness. This in turn led to a few more different campaigns that were once again secretive and potentially sexual in tone.
I had similar opinions as you and ultimately felt myself asking the same questions about the effectiveness of the campaign, and how easily it would have been to make these campaigns more effective and divers in content. The original content sharerers seemed to be looking at reaching as many women as possible, but not really spreading a message or leading the Facebook community to a page or site where they could actually support the cause.
I certainly liked how you were able to ask questions to your readers so that they can think about the issues presented, I also appreciate that you gave suggestions and presented an example of a campaign that could draw the audience in. One recommendation I have is something that took me a little time to understand when writing my blogs comes with the use of blank space and pauses in writing to make it seem more conversational and less like a story or paper. Adding spaces after statements or points gives readers the feeling that you are speaking in a more conversational tone instead of an informative paper style of writing. Overall good job. Thank you for sharing.