I said again and again on Twitter that this year I was NOT going to join in to the breast cancer awareness fuss. “I said, and said, and said those words. I said them. But I lied them.” (That’s Dr. Seuss.)
And so I am about to make a blanket objection. The trouble with blanket objections is that, at least for ME, when I read a blanket objection, and I’ve done the thing the blanket objection is about, I feel slapped. Even if I don’t think the person making the blanket objection is talking about ME PERSONALLY, they ARE talking about something I PERSONALLY did, and so they DO mean me, whether they intend to mean me or not, and my face burns with embarrassment, which then makes me feel upset and angry and like slapping back.
That’s not good. I don’t want to cause that feeling in you. And yet here we are, and I am going to try to do it without the slapping sensation. And although I have just said it is totally understandable to take something like this personally, it’s also true that I’m not thinking of one person in particular, or even several people in particular: I’m thinking of posts on Twitter that have been re-tweeted thousands of times and sentiments I’ve heard expressed again and Again and AGAIN by TONS of people. If you think I’m quoting you or specifically addressing you, I can tell you for absolutely sure that I’m not—that if I’m saying something you said, it’s because hundreds or thousands of other people said it the same way.
So. ON with it. There are three breast-cancer-awareness-related sentiments I’m objecting to:
1. Oh come on, is anyone seriously claiming they aren’t AWARE of breast cancer?
2. Making dumb fake-sexy posts on Facebook and Twitter isn’t going to cure breast cancer.
3. MONEY and TIME are needed, NOT “awareness.”
My first objection applies to all three, and it is the tone in which these statements is delivered: the intention is to slap people down. It’s not just exasperation, it’s not just making a point: it’s contempt. The eyes are being rolled; the words “DUH” and “YOU IDIOTS” are implied; the hope is that the person reading those words will burn with embarrassment. That’s not nice, is it? And it does nothing to improve or change things, it only causes anger and other divisive feelings.
And now I will explain what breast cancer awareness is FOR, since to me all three of those statements indicate NOT knowing what it’s for.
Let’s back away from breast cancer for a moment, and think about a company that makes deodorant. The company hires an advertising agency to advertise the deodorant, and that agency produces ads both in print and on television. Do we say, “THAT’S stupid. Like we don’t already KNOW deodorant exists?? Come on, the company doesn’t need to make people AWARE of deodorant—they need MONEY and PROFITS!”
No. The reason we don’t say that is that we know what advertisements are for. Advertisements bring the product to the front of the consumer’s mind. If the product is in the front of a consumer’s mind, the customer is going to recognize the product when he or she sees it, and may be influenced to purchase. Advertising is not what the company needs, but it LEADS to what the company DOES need, which is money. It leads to it SO EFFECTIVELY, the company gladly spends hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even millions of dollars, on advertisements. That’s how connected “bringing something to the fronts of people’s minds” and “money” are: VERY connected.
Furthermore, marketers have discovered something very important, which is that if you can get a consumer to take even one TINY step toward the product, the consumer will defend that step by making a HUGE step toward the product in allegiance. Can you get the consumer to click a box on a pop-up survey? Can you get the consumer to scratch off a little panel to see if they’ve won? Can you get a person to change their Facebook status? Then you, the marketer, have made a HUGE stride toward getting the consumer involved with your product. And a consumer who feels involved will feel loyalty, and loyalty will lead to dollars.
Back to breast cancer awareness. Is breast cancer awareness month intended to teach people that breast cancer EXISTS? Of course not. Does anyone think that by using a racy Facebook status they are making HUGE STRIDES toward a cure? Of course not. Would ANYONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND disagree that money was needed more than awareness? Of COURSE not. But awareness is not literally “awareness,” it is ADVERTISING. We’re accustomed to advertising in the product world, but it’s not as familiar to us in the fundraising context so we don’t always recognize it.
Breast cancer awareness is intended to put the concept of breast cancer in the fronts of our minds. I already know that breast cancer exists, but I often go days or weeks without thinking about it at all. In October, however, I think about it every day: I keep seeing statuses, or pink stuff at the store, or big signs, or advertisers trying frantically to use the concept to sell their products. This is GOOD. Because when a concept is in the front of my mind, I am more likely to put it in the front of my wallet—even if I neither purchase something pink nor change my status (though doing either of those things makes me even more likely to pony up the dough).
When people participate in non-cure-related activities such as purchasing pink pens or changing their Facebook status, they are, even if unwittingly, building loyalty to a product, a product that requires financial support. Loyalty is good. Loyalty results in more money than lack of loyalty does.
And does anyone think that someone participating in a Facebook status game is doing that INSTEAD OF writing a check? YES, money and time are what is needed—but that doesn’t mean awareness thwarts those goals, or takes away from them, or substitutes for them. And in fact, it works IN SUPPORT OF those goals. Slapping people down for their participation—especially when, if nothing else, those people have good intentions—works AGAINST those goals.
I completely agree.
That doesn’t stop me from rolling my eyes at the constant “tee-hee”ing over the “racy” Facebook status updates, because I find that annoying for all kinds of reasons, but you are right, and it is just advertising. (Annoying advertising, but still.) (I deal with the pink-stuff marketing much better than the Facebook status games.)
Well said, Swistle!
I didn’t do last year’s facebook game, but I did this year’s, mostly because I could make it funny: hanging from a rack in the mudroom.
But that is not to say that I take it lightly – my mom is a two-time breast cancer survivor. And, to prove your point, I have donated frequently to cancer causes and research.
Also, I have seen several friends on Facebook comment that these statuses reminded them to do their monthly self-check, which they would otherwise have forgotten to do. So, that’s something, too.
Well said.
I think my concern with breast cancer awareness is that American women already wildly OVERestimate their risk of breast cancer and so I think all the awareness stuff makes that worse and allows women to continue to basically ignore other thinks that are more likely to harm them (like heart disease).
I think it is totally good and healthy to go weeks without thinking about breast cancer. There is no reason you should think about that every day. There is nothing gained by thinking about it every day. Do the self-exams, get the yearly check and try to live healthy on a regular basis and you have your bases covered to the extent they can be.
(By the way, I hope this doesn’t sound slappy. I truly don’t mean it to, just sharing why I chose not to go pink this month.)
Ok, ok, I’ll stop being irritated by all this “awareness” because I see it now as advertising. However, I didn’t know October was Breast Cancer Awareness month (I probably knew this at one time, but I know longer KNEW it, so that explains a ton).
Though I will say that I don’t like the idea of companies being able to put a pink ribbon on their products to “raise awareness” (and also, raise their own sales) if they are not directly donating to the cause. It seems like if consumers are buying something marketed with a pink ribbon, they are buying it because they want to help the cause, and so actual MONEY from their purchase should have to be donated. (This isn’t always the case.)
You are right on everything though Swistle. I hate admitting when I’m wrong. ;)
Word. I have been slightly mystified by all the negativity toward breast-cancer “awareness” efforts. I suppose it’s just the normal hype backlash we tend to get every time something is prominent in the public eye.
My project for this October is knitted prosthetic breasts: http://theknittingexperience.com/knitted_knockers_program/
I just found out about the program this year and I’m tickled pink (ahem) to have such a satisfying, right-up-my-alley way to help women who’ve been through breast cancer.
I don’t participate in the breast cancer awareness stuff either. It would be much better if they were just upfront and said, “hey, would you send us $5 for research?” Instead you buy overpriced merchandise where they get nickels and dimes on the dollar. And those fb updates? Oh please… Those are about as useful as…well…nothing.
I wish half the interest and support that goes to breast cancer awareness would go to colorectal cancer. My mother has had both – DCIS, back in 2003, and Stage III colon cancer in 2005. She survived both. Don’t get me wrong. Any cancer is worth fighting, and worth fighting hard. Sometimes it seems like we only care about the sexy parts. (I know ‘save the large intestine’ or ‘get your rectum checked’ bumper stickers/ribbons don’t have much marketability, though.) Although, maybe I could get something like that going, after all! It would certainly get read.
I agree with what you said. However, I think it is stupid to have the racy statuses when no one knows what they mean. Maybe I hide under a rock. Maybe I am media deprived. But I had no idea why all the people on FB started looking so freaking kinky.
What is advertising that really has nothing to do with the product?
THANK YOU, Swistle. I agree with you. I like to participate in those FB updates (kitchen floor! Bedroom closet!) and then I heard someone saying how horrible and wrong it was and I was just self-involved, etc., etc. Hey, it’s AWARENESS. It’s like football players wearing pink chin guards. They’re not actually curing breast cancer, but they are showing support and awareness. I put on a cute/slutty FB status and also write a cheque and sponsor someone in Running for the Cure. Should I feel badly about my FB status? No.
Misty- You know what’s totally icky, is that that’s the advertising campaign to get men involved. Because men don’t care enough when their wives/mothers/sisters are dying of breast cancer, they only notice if SEX is involved.
Kelly- I know, and for me it’s lung cancer. But if we can find a cure for ANY cancer it’s likely to be a cure for ALL of them, so I don’t mind if breast cancer steals the scene.
Swistle, you’re so smart and insightful! I hadn’t really given it all that much thought, but you are totally right. You make us all think!!
I think what bothered me with the bra color thing (aside from the fact that as a breast cancer patient pointed out, it was insensitive to the women with breast cancer who don’t need bras because they no longer have breasts) is that as awareness goes, it was pretty shallow and feeble. In general, I think awareness should go a little beyond “Hey, breast cancer exists!” and that campaign didn’t even really say that. I’m sure there are people who still have no clue that it was about breast cancer awareness, because nobody was actually talking about breast cancer. When companies do teaser campaigns, they eventually do a more complete ad that lets you know what they’ve been hinting at. If people had followed bra color up with another post a day later saying what it was about and giving a link to a website with more information on breast cancer, I would have thought it was fine. Give people information and let them decide what action to take. But this is all hint with no information, when it would have been so easy to make it much more effective (really, how hard is including a single link?). It’s hard not to be annoyed by that kind of laziness.
You know what, Swistle, this post has completely inspired me to make extra effort to present my opinions in a non-slappy way. I had totally thought or said each of your three points! And yet, I heard your argument, and did not feel at all face-slapped, and what do you know but I agree with you! It just goes to show, “don’t be a jerk” is always a good and useful policy.
Wendy- I think you’re still thinking of it as educationally-motivated rather than financially-motivated. It’s not about whether one disease is more of a problem than another, or about whether women are thinking with correct statistics about their health—it’s about which disease has a better advertising campaign, and which needs more money. And when I say I think about it every day, I don’t mean I fret or worry, I mean it’s in the front of my mind—which is where financial contributions come from. It’s like how PBS periodically bombards us with their fundraising campaigns every half hour for a few days: it’s healthy and normal not to think of PBS every half hour, but if they want to fundraise they have to get us thinking about them more than we usually do.
And also, OF COURSE people should “sit it out” if they don’t want to be involved. I myself never get involved in the “red dress campaign” for heart disease. But I don’t then slap other people down for participating if THEY want to, and it sounds like you don’t either.
Marie Green- I agree: pink ribbon stuff should = contribution. I think it’s pretty slimey when it doesn’t.
And I agree with EVERYONE who says some of the advertisements are TRULY annoying. It’s the same with all commercials, I think: there are always some that make me clench my teeth. But in this case it works to advantage: people all over the place are talking about how annoyed they are, and that gives the campaign even more publicity. I remember learning in marketing that an irritating ad can be even more effective than a non-irritating ad.
Beth A.- I agree it’s shallow and feeble—and yet, it does work, in that it gets people to take those small steps TOWARD a program. Only a few people could be counted on to include informative links if asked to (though again, these things aren’t about education, only about fundraising), but hundreds of thousands were willing to leave a quick status update. And although there was a period of confusion, eventually everyone DID know what the campaign was about. And most importantly, it was fun and got people involved: that’s getting it in the front of people’s minds, which will lead to MONEY. Links to educational information: non-fun, no motivation to get involved.
Katie Mae- Oh, I’m so glad! I’ve been so agitated about this, because I HATE that slapped feeling and CRINGE at the thought of delivering it!
Thanks for this post – I’ve been grumpy about those status updates, and it’s good to be called on the fact that being slappy about it isn’t a great way to go about voicing disagreement.
But I still don’t like the ‘we’re raising awareness – aren’t we awesome!?’ attitude that some friends of mine have. Advertising may build ‘brand’ loyalty to BC issues, but unless it’s *increasing* donations overall, then money is just shifting from one charitable cause to another. Not immoral or anything, but not praise-worthy, either.
I also realized that a lot of what annoys me about this is the ‘tee hee – I’m so naughty!’ attitude, which will bug me regardless of how effective the campaign is. Thanks for making me think about it (even though my thoughts make for SUPER long comments!)
I agree completely. A friend of mine just posted on FB that she does NOT like the ‘racy updates, and someone commented on HER note about it that donations go up a lot in October, so something about it might be working.
Alice- I dislike that kind of thing, too—same category, for me, as all the “sexy” versions of non-sexy Halloween costumes: police officer, Little Red Riding Hood, etc.
To me it seems as though it is making masses aware that MANY people are effected by it, not necessarily that it simply exists. By being aware of the size of the pool of battlers perhaps it will be more top of mind, perhaps if you get it or know someone who’s had it you feel closer to those supporting or even more grateful for those supporting it, and yes – if it’s top of mind perhaps people will donate time and money to fuel research so that the pool of battlers gets smaller… I don’t know, just my thoughts.
Just like Earth Day makes us think about the Earth and what we’re doing to it, how Mother’s Day is a day to devote to your mom and let her know what she means to you, it seems as though Breast Cancer awareness is just to stop in your day to day life and think…oh yeah…this has killed a lot of women. It *could* kill me or my loved ones. Maybe I should schedule a check up…. :)
Again, this is just my data point of one…
Exactly.
My sister is an oncologist, and she gets so frustrated: “What aren’t they wearing colors for ANAL CANCER? Why aren’t they pushing awareness of PANCREATIC CANCER?” It makes her furious, and I understand why!
Amy- Ha! Yes! Tell her the other cancers need good ad campaigns! The good news, as she probably knows, is that it’s likely that the cure for ONE kind of cancer would apply to ALL cancers—so it doesn’t really matter what VARIETY of cancer gets the publicity.
This is such an awesome, well done post, I don’t even know where to start.
The awareness = advertising is a fantastic realization. Thank you!
My husband is extremely adverse to “awareness” campaigns, especially ones that reward the Awareness Raiser (e.g., Team In Training type stuff where the Raiser raises enough funds and the Host Organization then pays for their reduced rate trip to some location to run a race). I figure that (a) running/ getting in shape is hard so if folks find motivation in these types of events then good!, and (b) most the reward for the Awareness Raiser is probably tax deductible donations from big companies, so it’s not really detracting from the funds raised for research.
But I see his point, too. If you’re going to give money or time to an effort/ charity that’s important to you, then just DO it. Don’t expect to be rewarded for it.
THANK YOU.
You will be happy to know that my current Facebook status is “I like it up the ass,” because I am an asshole.
I really don’t want to sound contrary to anyone here, but I am a nursing student and have just had a lecture about breast cancer and it is NOT a situation where women wildly over-estimate their chances of getting it. Many women will get it and one in 35 will most likely die from it. There were 40 women in my lecture class that day and the thought of even one of us dying from it was a sobering thought.
Also, breast cancer awareness is important because a monthly self-exam is the easiest way to be alerted to a possibility of a tumor that may become suspect and the sooner that someone finds something cancerous the better chances of survival. Breast cancer is often random whereas lung cancer usually targets those with specific lifestyle choices and breasts are a whole lot easier to self-examine than your colon, say, or intestines. Just sayin.
Also, (again), the point of all the facebook updates is to get people talking, which is exactly what it succeeds in doing, whether your laughing or blasting it.
Not to be difficult (even though I am difficult at times)…..although you did a very good job of not making me feel “slapped,” I think blanket objections are a good thing. When I feel slapped it makes me really think about what I personally did and why. And I don’t think enough people do that.
So well done. I hadn’t thought of the awareness = advertising = money connection. I love the way you are able to express yourself.
I completely agree. I’m not saying that Breast Cancer Awareness isn’t important, but all of the marketing and pink stuff just gets to me sometimes (even though I love it and buy my share of pink stuff). I guess my thing with it is this: October is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month. To me (as a survivor of domestic violence) Domestic Violence Awareness is just as important as Breast Cancer Awareness. And yet, you can’t slap pink glitter (or any color glitter for that matter) on anything and sell it to raise Awareness about Domestic Violence because it’s not marketable. Domestic Violence is ugly and people prefer not to talk about it. But we can all update our statuses all day long talking about our breasts because breasts are marketable. I’m not saying it’s not a worthy cause to raise money to fight Breast Cancer. It runs in my family and I’ve seen what it can do. I’m just saying other causes deserve campaigns too but they don’t get the attention they deserve because they’re too dark and “un-marketable”. Does that make sense? I didn’t sleep well last night so maybe not. OK, I’m done now.
Thank you! As someone who definitely felt slapped, I liked reading this.
Thank you for this post. I’ve been having these same feelings this month, but I just couldn’t articulate them like you. I felt bad when people were tweeting about how overdone October is for breast cancer awareness, but I didn’t know why. I didn’t know why I should feel bad for liking the pink things and the message it sends. You say it perfectly and made me feel way better about it all. Thanks!
It is insane the amount of attention it garners. In Canada the Breast Cancer Society has so much money that they cannot even spend it all. But, they do not want to stop the awareness and making people feel like they are doing something. You could give you money to a less prominent disease and really help the research. Seriously, a bit of ribbon is helping people? I do not understand pretend caring.
A couple of years ago I attended at a professional luncheon in October where there was unadvertised Breast Cancer sponsor/speaker. At my table there was a woman wearing a head scarf and obviously undergoing cancer treatment, she won a prize. It was jeweled pink ribbon pin. She said, “Great another one to add to my collection.” She sobbed throughout the rest of the lunch, probably the longest lunch of her life. I think she just wanted to have lunch with friends and forget she had cancer for an hour.
Anonymous- Wait, Canada has more money than they need for breast cancer research? Are they…USING it? And if not, perhaps they could send it to researchers elsewhere, since a cure has yet to be found?