At the innocent age of 12, I felt a lump in my right breast. At the doctor’s visit, I was reassured that it was 80% unlikely it was cancerous. What about the remaining 20%? The possibility haunted me up until the day the lump was removed. I was fortunate to not have caner and my flesh rose instantly to fill in the hollow space. Women are recommended by their doctors to do weekly breast exams in the shower. One in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.
Humans are good by nature; how one reacts to life experiences alters their personality for better or worse. A simple like or share helps everyone recognize who identified with a situation. But to actually understand the cause is limited. A like on a breast cancer meme is much like saying, “sorry to hear that.” On the other hand, taking action is what is truly impactful. Humans naturally seek to be viewed as “good,” however, the moment a call of action is required not all identifiers are willing participants. Social media users tend to put on a façade for their community. This could be due to whom that person really wants to be, but they lack the courage to execute. When a topic such as the Facebook breast cancer awareness meme becomes viral, it can be for all the wrong reasons.
The communication error was in the transparency of individual’s Facebook posts. Shared meaning was imperative to understanding the message. The Shannon-Weaver model provides an explanation for miscommunication (Mahoney & Tang 2017). Mobilization failed because each person could not relate to the real-life experiences. Little to no empathy was evoked; instead it made the idea of individual’s breast cancer themed memes humorous. As a result, the original mission statement was misinterpreted and the receiver walked away without the intended message due to external noise, coding, and decoding.
Keeping the men guessing was a horrible idea. They would not be informed of the cause until after the fact. Also, it could create more reasons for them to ignore the message due to the high level of mystery and frustration when decoding. A solution, was the goal. Donations are for researching a cure. Even though the mystery meme’s were fun and personalized it had minimal monetary gains. The arguably most important step of the mobilization action plan is prompting social participation. The superficial nature of the movement did not generate offline behavior.
Save the Tat-ta’s was a catchy campaign. My high school was BIG on breast cancer awareness. We would host a Poker run event. We would decorate our cars with breast cancer themed paraphernalia and ride to various locations around the city collecting playing cards to build a poker hand. The car that came back with the best Poker hand would win. Each car would have to give a donation in order to participate in the event. Weeks would pass before the car pain would be washed off. Even the high school guys would participate in breast cancer walks and the Poker run event. Perhaps this was due to them enjoying saying the words ta-ta’s and not being judged, yet informed. This is a perfect example of increased awareness and social participation. Cancer knows no gender. Breast cancer is also prevalent in men as well. Including the male race, instead of keeping them in the dark, can help prevent their deaths.
Health has been overlooked by many Americans. Global connectivity now allows supports that are not restricted by proximity. Prosocial movements from around the world can be witnesses and felt by the masses. An outbreak in one country can bring to light similar issues around the globe. People are uniting based on their value and structuring communities based around specific idealogies. The campaigns must be sure to communicate clearly the health implications and goals. Requiring health care for all citizens was a great step by our former President Barak Obama. The next global initiative must be to give special benefits to those whom live a healthier lifestyle. My favorite aunt for example, actually receives a gift card each month, via her insurance, for wearing her Fit Bit. Monitoring your health is critical to ones survival.
Reources:
American Breast Cancer Foundation. (n.d.). American Breast Cancer Foundation. Retrieved January 15, 2019, from https://www.abcf.org/donate
Mahoney, L. M., & Tang, T. (2017). Strategic social media: From marketing to social change. Chichester, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell.
The Creative Cloud 
Fatimaa,
First, great blog post! I am sorry to hear that at such a young and fragile age you had a scare, happy however everything turned out fine!
Second, I couldn’t agree more with putting action behind posting. As you said people might like a post or even share as “sorry to hear that.” But to attach an action to the share or awareness raiser! The one viral campaign I think did this well was the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. People were encouraged to donate a small monetary amount and dump a bucket of ice water on their heads or opt out and donate a higher amount. At the end people would nominate 3 friends or family to do the same. The year this started ALS drew more awareness and raised more money then ever before. So I totally agree, lets keeps sharing and raising awareness, but lets get people to act on something as well!
Best,
Vicky
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