Are You "Aware" of Breast Cancer?

I’m pretty well convinced that most people with an IQ of 55 or higher are “aware” of breast cancer. So when I see these ill-conceived social media campaigns to “raise awareness” of breast cancer, I’m not amused. Last year on Facebook, during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, women were encouraged to post as their status the color of their bra.

This year on Facebook, women were encouraged to post as their status where they like to keep their purse. The proliferation of posts like “I like it in the closet, where it’s dark” and “I like it on the back seat of the car” and “I like it in the bedroom” did little more than create a few adolescent giggles and smirks from those who exploited the obvious double-meaning of the status updates.

Most importantly, like last year’s bra-color campaign, this year’s “where do you like to keep your purse” campaign did nothing to help fight the disease which affects so many of our friends and family members.

I’m sure I annoyed more than a few of my Facebook friends last week when I posted a status update that said “I’m pretty sure that most people with an IQ of 55 or higher are ‘aware’ of breast cancer. And don’t care where you like your purse, and last year I didn’t care what color your bra was. Instead of telling me where you like your purse, why don’t you reach into it and donate some money for breast cancer research, and DO something to help find a cure”.

I’ll have to admit my patience with this “awareness” crap is in pretty short supply this year. I wrote a rant last week about how my friend and former colleague, Robin Colbert, had a double mastectomy and hysterectomy in her fight against breast cancer. I’m happy to report that she’s now home from the hospital, in pretty good spirits, and seems to be recovering well.

I know my many female friends who participated in this year’s “awareness campaign” on Facebook were simply having fun and the comments on their status were often entertaining. No harm.

But I sure wish they’d walk the walk (pun intended) as well as talk the talk. It takes only a few seconds longer than updating your Facebook status to go to a website and donate a few bucks toward breast cancer research.

Next year, perhaps the “awareness” folks will decide that it would be fun to post as their status how much money they just donated for breast cancer research.