If you’re a woman, you probably would have received an email asking you to take part in this year’s Breast Cancer Awareness month by playing a Facebook game.
The rule is to leave a message on your FaceBook with “I’m (your birth month) weeks and I’m craving (your birth date)!” as your status.
Example: Feb 14th= I’m 2 weeks and craving Chocolate mints!
Sorry to have spoiled the fun for the rest of the women since this was supposed to be a secret from the guys. But, if you pause for a minute to think, I just can’t tell how this game promotes even a hint of Breast Cancer awareness.
I’m a woman and I get that some ads are targeted at women. When done well, they can speak to women and reach out effectively to women.
The only consequence that I can foresee by participating in this FB game, is to give people false hope that one may be pregnant. And why would I want to do that, since I announced on my blog that we’re making baby plans for number 2? Which, by the way, was what happened to ALL my girlfriends. Very very awkward, especially when they start making comments like, “Oh no wonder I see a baby bump”. *facepalm moment*.
If you recall, last year’s game was to share where you like to place your purse. I don’t know about you, but my FaceBook wall was flooded with suggestive sounding messages going, “I like it on the car, dining table, night stand, …” which sure made the men think how adventurous these women are (Don’t lie if you’re a guy)! Breast cancer? Not a slight hint.
This year, I’m boycotting this game and suggest you do the same. There are definitely more effective ways to raise the awareness of Breast Cancer without making the women feel like they have been taken for a ride.
My husband thinks I’m crazy, but I have a sneaky feeling that the people behind this game could well be guys doing a social experiment on how gullible women are, when the cause they are promoting gets belittled to be no more than a joke.
Did you participate in this game or do you think I’m over reacting? I’ll be keen to know what you think.
I took part in the first one and refused to do it again when this one came within a mth of each other. I had the same doubts and it felt silly. If there was really a breast cancer awareness movement going on, there should be some coordinated efforts and only one campaign. Obviously it isn’t. Nothing in it sugg of breast cancer awareness but instead give status updates with sexual connotations.
I support breast cancer awareness, BUT, the birth month and craving, the shoe size (inches) are just provocative to get people’s attention and has nothing to do with breast cancer!
Exactly! The games are doing nothing to promote the cause of breast cancer, at all.
Yes, I find the game a big joke! This game has unknown sources, so it may not be really set up by people with well intentions to promote Breast Cancer Awareness at all.
Sounds like another one of those misconstrued efforts to create awareness. I participated in it last year but did not bother this year. At least it seem novel last year…this time, it just felt like an irrelevant attempt to get attention. These days, alot of corporations are just jumping on the social networks strategy in an attempt to increase their brand awareness but I think alot of their efforts are rather futile. Say the recent skincare campaign on the local female blogs for example. I think it has a created some negative association with some of the bloggers, with the campy behaviour that I see on the video. Often, sensationalism doesn’t necessary mean positive brand awareness.
Yes, everywhere companies are jumping on the social media bandwagon without really knowing what to do with their audience on cyberspace.
As for the recent skincare campaign, I suspect we are not their prime audience 🙂
Hi Susan! I do not think you are over-reacting at all. Ultimately, these ‘games’ are annoying and do little if nothing to further women’s cancer issues. The latest Facebook ‘game’ had me believing my 15 year-old niece was pregnant…the family was shocked at her announcing she was ‘three months and craving fudge’. A waste of everyone’s time and energy in trying to decipher and understand her actual non-situation.
The past ‘games’ for example, of where we like to leave our purse or what our shoe size is end up dead in their tracks…I found that the men in my life were puzzled by such ‘games’ and found them useless in creating awareness. If women started seeing posts by men of “10 12 inches” or “I like it in my car” or “I like it in the front hall” (for his wallet) we would find them to be cheeky and rude.
We would all be better off by creating awareness of cancer through education and understanding…best to post info about a healthy lifestyle from the right foods to eat to what products to use and what to avoid…go organic, go non-GMO, go chemical-free for starters…it can be done!…share valuable information and personal results…the right information and use of our time is valuable!
Be well All, take care of your health as best you can…it’s up to you! 🙂