Going viral may be a dream of most social media users, but going viral for something that is worthwhile and meaningful? Even better, right? That was the thinking behind the viral social media campaign for National Breast Cancer Awareness month over 15 years ago. When female Facebook users were urged to leave mysterious status updates about their bra colors or where they like to leave their purse without any context (“Black!” “I like it on the table!”), it was supposed to get their male friends intrigued and ask questions, leading to a discussion on breast cancer.
Did It Work?
By the bare minimum of the definition, the social media mobilization worked. Yes, awareness was raised about breast cancer because the mysterious statuses went viral, and it was brought up not only among friends, but on the news outlets. The status updates went so viral because:
- easy to share,
- most people have been affected in some way by breast cancer so it resonates with them emotionally
- sexualized context
I’m serious about that last one. I really don’t think the campaign would have gone so viral without the weirdly sexualized context attached to the breast cancer statuses.
So, It Worked?
If the campaign was viral and widely covered by news outlets, how could it possibly fall short? Wasn’t awareness the goal of the entire thing?
Well, yes.
But, what did they really gain from it? Did it raise any extra help for breast cancer research or support for survivors or their families?
No.
But it did significantly increase the number of followers on the Susan G. Komen Foundation Facebook page. So, if their gauge for success was actually only awareness and not donations or support, then yes, they were wildly successful.
What Went Wrong?
By sexualizing the context of breast cancer awareness, how did that really work out for the campaign? Did the audience really connect the status updates to raising awareness in a meaningful way? I would argue no. I think taking something like cancer to a sexual context is, for lack of a better word, weird. In the words of ABC News Author, Susan Donaldson James, “Instead, these online antics may be raising more attention for women’s anatomy than for breast cancer research.” Frankly, we were talking about breasts and not breast cancer.
So, the campaign went viral in that it got people talking…but not necessarily in the most meaningful or active way. This could have been fixed by making a stronger connection between the status sharing and the end goal. Instead of nonsensical posts that made people expose things they don’t necessarily want to, like their bra color, or sexualize themselves to their friends, they could have had an outright link for donations to share, or a story to tell. That would have made it much more obvious what the end goal was.
Key Takeaways
- Mobilizing your audience works when it’s easy: sharing a status is as simple as it gets. If it takes little effort from your audience, they’re more willing to do it. For an author, this might be as simple as requesting people to share a post or perhaps a little more involved like writing a review.
- Mobilizing your audience works when it’s emotional and connected to them personally: Is there something in your book that you can use to really connect with your audience? Writing is already an emotional venture, but think about taking it one step further to really bond with your audience and get them wanting to share your message for you.
- Make a clear tie between what you are having your audience do and the message: If you’re trying to mobilize your audience for something like a new book release, you can absolutely do so in a fun way – but make sure whatever your audience is doing makes sense for your book! Don’t have them doing something like posting their favorite dragon colors for a whodunnit, or their favorite true crime homicide for a romantasy. Okay, those might be somewhat nonsensical examples, but you get the point.
Rebecca Wolford 
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