Do you think this FB/breast cancer thing is a load of shite?

[bintofbohemia]

I've seen a couple of statuses from friends saying they're off to live in (insert random city.) They've all had responses from friends asking all about it, loads of people texting and calling to see what's going on...

Turns out it's one of these shit "awareness" things that is supposed to promote breast cancer awareness. I don't see how it does anything of the sort - in fact is it anything to do with breast cancer or has some numpty just made it up?

I've just been sent the email explaining about it and I just thought - ffs.

IABU?

Agree SoupDragon - it's not like women haven't heard of breast cancer! If it was raising awareness of something specific like the importance of checking yourself . . . but aside from that it's just really really lame!

Takeresponsibility, I don't believe for a second that BREAST CANCER is in the forefront of people's minds because of this, Takeresponsibility. It really annoyed me, it hasn't made me check my breasts.

Cancer, including all the other types that there is far LESS awareness of like mouth/colon/pancreatic cancers, isn't something that only happens to other people, that's true.. but this doesn't have any direct link.

From a behavioural perspective, I got excited when I saw my mother was going to Austria for a month. It was not a leap of the imagination, she is doing a particular job that means something like this while not probable was certainly possible. So, finding out that something exciting isn't going to happen just makes thinking about breast cancer awareness negatively reinforcing e.g. it would be more likely to DECREASE me taking the "campaign" seriously than lead to me engaging in a conversation about breast cancer.

The bra one made some sense, this doesn't AT ALL.

Ooops, sorry. Only meant to put name in once.

One of the best awareness campaigns (I thought) was an e-mail I received with this cartoon lady walking in front of a huge queue of people - both genders, all colours, basically everybody. The strapline was something like "This is Beryl, she is walking her way around the world to let everyone know that breast cancer can affect anybody at any time"... it then went on to give the relevant website links.

I was transfixed watching 'Beryl' and the other cartoon people joining the queue.

So simple but for me, very effective - and inclusive.

Awareness campaigns are useless if they don't actually encourage people to take action. None of these silly country, bra, underwear, nipple what have you status things comes with a call to action. While everyone might be talking about it, how many women have actually gotten a mammogram because of it? I'm guessing 1%? Less?

Therefore, it's completely useless.

Also what really irritates me is this "no telling the men thing" Ummm, this is about BREAST CANCER (supposedly) some of the most successful breast cancer campaigns have urged men to urge the women in their lives to get mammograms and do breast self exams, why should they be kept out of a supposed "awareness" campaign?

I may change my status to:

I'm feeling my breasts.
Remember to feel yours too

Then a link to a breast cancer awareness site.

And no offence, but if you said to me you would tell me in real life and then had a chat with me about how you were trying to raise my awareness of breast cancer, I would be very about it.

And also, I saw that a "friend" has posted that they were leaving the country for 20 months and thought "thank God!" - now I am gutted!

it's really annoying

I never get the emails so spend age's tring to work out what the fuck everyone is going on about.

Every one who does it then has to spend ages explaining to everyone that actually no, they are not pregnant/moving home/enjoying some bizzar sexual act.

And most of all it does not raise awareness of breast cancer its just a stupid gimmick that leaves people feeling exclueded from the in joke

No way am I going to live in Amsterdam!

I like your idea much better Soupy

Soup I nicked that

My friend did this yesterday and hers was really plausible considering the country, length of visit and her current circumstances. I was gutted actually to find out it was spam because I thought it was an amazing opportunity for her.

I might bring back old fashioned chain letters to raise awareness of the cost of stamps :)

I hate breast cancer awarness in general, It really does NOT hit it for me

The pink shite, the stupid campaigns, the TV adevrts, what just cos I am a woman I want a pink bow????

Its hugely important but the way they market it really disenfranchaises me

It's spam.

The not telling men thing annoys me. Breast cancer is not exclusive to woman, men also get breast cancer. We should be raising awareness to that fact.

Annoys me too. I understood the bra one, but this is utter attention-seeking randomness.

I also feel a bit silly because when a friend of mine wrote about going to live in Mexico, I was one of the (admittedly quite a few) people who commented, saying things like "That sounds really exciting".

Which proves that it isn't working as an awareness campaign!

Yes, SGM, I would.

The breast cancer thing sounds dreadful, so yanbu.

I just hate the "awareness" thing, anyway. Everyone knows someone who's either had breast cancer or died of breast cancer - I know several, sadly. I couldn't actually be more aware of it than I am, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do about it. Research into breast cancer is better funded than research into many other kinds of cancer anyway. If it means "awareness" in terms of checking your breasts, well, OK, except doctors seem to argue about the usefulness of that anyway, just as they argue about the usefulness of mammograms.

I think the one thing I'd do in an ideal world is raise the awareness of GPs, so that when a woman goes to them with a lump, they don't say "Nothing to worry about, go home" but refer her to a specialist.

There was one of these campaigns a few months ago, where basically people were posting "I am x weeks and craving y chocolate bar" My friend posted without explaining, and was inundated with congratulations, including my heartfelt ones. She then had to explain to lots of people that she wasn't pregnant, or even trying!

Another friend has just posted 'am off to France for 6 months', and lots of friends have posted lovely comments wishing her well - it makes me feel sad knowing this is the actual reason!

Sure, it starts conversation, but not about breast cancer!!!

On a slightly related note I get really bugged by the charity runs for breast cancer (can't remember the official name, there are so many) why are they only for women to take part? Are there no men in the world who have lost a mother/wife/sister/grandmother/daughter or even another man as is does affect men too?
Surely they are just cutting off a avenue of millions of pounds worth of donations by exclueding men from participating.

I always respond with a link to www.feelyourboobies.com

These are shite at raising awareness, one person yesterday when I commented on a FB status update, said she didn't know what the status update was about but she'd joined in for a bit of fun, so obviously it is failing as an awareness raiser.

I was also told that I had no sense of humour for thinking that awareness campaigns should actually raise awareness, rather than making people think they are doing something useful when they aren't.