Book Bites Blog

Close your eyes and think of someone you know who is either battling breast cancer or has lost their battle with breast cancer. For those who are battling, send them a healing thought or prayer. For those who have passed, send one to their loved ones. Being told that you have cancer or knowing someone who has cancer is difficult to process and hard to know what to say to the person. There are a few items that you can do to make a difference including raising awareness, volunteering at a treatment center, or raising money for cancer research.

Meme Gone Viral

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis in the United States with an estimate of over 300,000 women being diagnosed in 2024. Back in 2009 during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, there were popular breast cancer Facebook memes that were being shared via private messenger, and the female users were asked to share a single color—the color of their bra—as their status update. The following October, the same Facebook memes resurfaced via private messenger, and the female users were asked to share where they like to put their purse when they get home.

I like it in the closet.

Why were these memes going viral? They became a fun activity that raised awareness around breast cancer, encouraged people to get educated and get a mammogram. Users who participated felt good about themselves for contributing to creating awareness and enjoyed the fun personalization. However, many users wished that the memes included links to prevention materials for breast cancer or how they can help. These memes did a fantastic job of building awareness around breast cancer but fell short of what users could do next to take it one step further.

User Mobilization

Mobilization is when a group includes other people to participate and these social media memes fell short of user mobilization because they did not encourage people to participate beyond updating their status. Users could have been asked to donate to breast cancer research or to volunteer at their local treatment center. A great example of what they could have been asked to do to get involved is to sign up for the American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer (MSABC) campaign that raises funds nationwide for breast cancer patients, survivors, thrivers, and caregivers.

Advantage of Cyberactivism

Cyberactivism is when people use the Internet to advance a cause that is difficult to advance offline. Raising awareness of breast cancer is something that can be done online and offline depending on what the overall goal is. With over five billion active social media users around the world, cyberactivism has a huge advantage over mobilization. But in your local communities, it is the opposite. Marketers need to remember that when they share a social media meme—like the breast cancer meme—it needs to have a call to action (CTA). When users saw the breast cancer meme, it raised awareness about breast cancer but that was it. If it had had a CTA like “click here to donate” or “discover how you can help”, it would have been that much more effective. Without a CTA, users will see the meme and think “here is this great meme raising awareness for an important cause but now what?”. Do not leave your audience guessing. Give them something to take action on.

Final Thoughts

Every person knows someone who is either battling breast cancer or has lost their battle with breast cancer. The breast cancer meme did create buzz and it did succeed in its goal of spreading awareness for breast cancer, but it could have been taken further. With a powerful message and CTA, it will help social media users be interested, knowledgeable, and advocates for your cause.

Please share what you have done to support people with breast cancer or what you pledge to do in the comments.

This blog is in honor of Bobbie Gaudette Constanzo who was a happy, kind, and loving person who was taken from us too soon after she lost her long battle with breast cancer.