Posturing #RaceTogether Kicks Itself

Starbucks presently has a corporate social responsibility campaign that is supposed to get baristas to talk about race to their customers.

The hashtag is #RaceTogether and loads of people are using it on Twitter to call out the inequities within the company and express disgust that lecturing is the goal here instead of making changes to corporate social issues. It's the definition of a PR nightmare and, as a socially conscious person trained in public relations, I am dumbfounded that people thought this was a good idea.

Ice Bucket Challenge Criticism

We know that fun, gimmicky, irrelevant campaigns like the ice bucket challenge for
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have a greater capacity to go viral than perhaps something more issue-based. I'm sure that's why many people participate. If you can have fun and do some good at the same time, why not?

In general, I don't object to a campaign being fun and of course, I am pleased to see so much money is being raised for ALS. It's a terrible brain disease that gradually paralyzes people who have it and then kills them.

But I am offended and disappointed (but not surprised) that, despite the campaign's incredible popularity, public discussion about ALS is almost totally absent, except in news coverage, though even that, I've noticed, has often been superficial. But the criticism has not been.

Canadian Cancer Society Ontario Takes Action

The Canadian Cancer Society of Ontario's online Take Action campaign connects the province's citizens with their local and provincial government representatives and other policy influencers. The campaign coincides with the 2014 provincial election to motivate political action on issues that affect cancer.

Letter Writing Campaigns Work

I am thrilled to announce that Jabeur Mejri, the man I wrote about last year who was imprisoned in Tunisia for criticizing Islam on Facebook, has been released!

Thousands of Amnesty International members (including me) wrote to the Tunisian government demanding his release as part of the 2013 Write for Rights, Amnesty's huge international human rights letter writing campaign.

You can read more about Jabeur's story and release on Amnesty International's website.

Here is my post about Write for Rights, in which I shared the letter I wrote on Jabeur's behalf for the campaign.

If you know something is wrong, stand up. We can make a difference, especially when we stand together.

Toxin Toxout Review

I used to use chemical bathroom cleaner that flared my asthma. There was even a warning on the can that it wasn't suitable for people with respiratory conditions, but I kept using it, choosing to medicalize the situation instead of seeking a healthy alternative: it's not the cleaner's fault that I have asthma; I can tolerate a bit of breathing discomfort for the sake of cleanliness.

Later, I read Toxin Toxout, a great book about what toxins do to our bodies and how we can avoid them and I had a paradigmatic epiphany: the chemical product wasn't bad for me because I had asthma; it's bad for all of us because it includes toxic chemicals. I just feel the effects immediately and the implications on my health are very obvious.

Write for Rights - Join Me

Please join me and thousands of others and participate in Write for Rights, an Amnesty International letter writing campaign that mobilizes action in support of international human rights cases. It is the world's largest human rights event. Click the link to learn about the cases and resources to help you write compelling letters and take other actions.

Last year, Amnesty's 1.8 million actions in 80 countries drew international attention to its priority cases. This prompted direct government response and protected human rights defenders still in prison against threats and inhumane treatment.

Analyzing the Pro Infirmis: Because who is perfect? Campaign

These people with visible physical disabilities pose as models and are measured to create new mannequins for placement in this Zurich store front. It's part of a campaign by disability organization Pro Infirmis.

Why raising money for Movember isn't enough

Did you know that the products you use to groom your Movember moustache may put you at risk for prostate cancer?

Please read this recent article from Environmental Defence that explains the concerning evidence of a relationship between toxic chemical exposure and prostate cancer and other types. It also explains the need for awareness about these risks and the need to pressure for policy changes that would ban endocrine disrupting chemical exposure, require disclosure of these chemical ingredients and increase availability of safe products.

Rheumatoid Arthritis Misconceptions

Recently on Twitter, I requested submissions for personal stories about the harms of inadequate, oversimplified or incorrect public and institutional awareness of disease. I've discussed many awareness campaigns in this blog. My goals are to inspire critical thinking about this behaviour and motivate true awareness.

I am honoured to share with you this guest post by Tia Maria about her experience with rheumatoid arthritis. Tia explains how misconceptions about RA stigmatize her disease and reduce her access to support and care. Thank you for submitting this and raising awareness about RA, Tia!

Limitations of Breast Cancer Awareness and Support

In my blog, I've been raising awareness about the limitations of typical breast cancer awareness campaigns. Most don't share information about the risks of breast cancer treatment and present life as "normal" and free of suffering. I am pleased and honoured to share with you a guest post by breast cancer survivor Alli Flowers about her personal experience with these terrible effects, her frustration with the lack of awareness and support for post-treatment effects, and the overwhelming pink. She also shares with us some of the science behind these problems and their prevalence among patients. Thank you, Alli! Check her out at http://justanothergeeksite.com.

Breast Cancer Awareness Satire

If only raising awareness about breast cancer wasn't so much work.

Image taken from The Onion

This satire of breast cancer awareness from The Onion isn't a far stretch from the reality, plus it notes some typical features of pink and objectifying breast cancer campaigns:

Staring = Caring -- Yeah, Right...

Many organizations and corporations would like you to believe that objectifying women is an effective, perfectly justifiable method to support women's causes. Before I rip apart the irony of this...

The latest disgusting campaign is "Staring = Caring" and its purpose is to support AIDS -- supposedly. The website invites us to scroll up a woman's provocatively posed legs while cheesy porn-like music plays in the background.

This is a project of Stop AIDS Now, what appears to be a legitimate, important organization. "Staring = Caring" links to the organization's website.

When I first learned about "Staring = Caring" and checked out the website, I was really ready to compare it to Boobstagram. Boobstagram invited women to share pictures of their breasts in lingerie to support breast cancer awareness.

But here's where it gets complicated: Stop AIDS Now appears to be doing very good work and provides lots of great awareness and calls to action on its website. So is it really fair to compare it to Boobstagram?

I just don't understand why a good organization that truly cares about women's issues would do something this insensitive. It's NEVER okay to objectify women, even if this campaign produces results. The sexual context of this campaign is especially insensitive given that one type of AIDS transmission is sex. But I can't help but feel that the sexual component of the disease actually prompted the creation of a sex-based campaign.

In our society, we don't seem to know how to talk about diseases that affect reproduction, specifically women's, without sexualizing them. Think about breast cancer. It has #boobstagram, all the pinktober "Save the tatas" and other bullshit, plus the "Where do you like it?" (Your purse) Facebook Status campaigns, just to name a few.

I feel like supporters of this type of trash feel justified in viewing this: "Well, hey, if I can masturbate for a good cause, why not." I will never be able to wrap my head around why soooooo many people don't see a problem with this.

How Bell Let's Talk Stands Out from Other Corporate Awareness Campaigns

Right now, Bell Canada is holding Bell Let's Talk, a huge cause marketing campaign to raise awareness about mental illness and raise funds for mental health initiatives ... And Bell, of Course. Bell donates 5 cents for every Tweet, text and long distance call, etc. to mental health initiatives. Regular readers of my blog may anticipate that I have a problem with the business objectives of the campaign, or that I may be skeptical about the level of awareness this campaign has created. 

Actually, I don't. I'm not.

There is clear information in Bell's marketing, Bell's supporters and others touched by mental illness. The goal of the campaign is to foster discourse, thereby reducing still highly prevalent stigma. It's working. People are sharing their stories, disclosing their own challenges with anxiety or depression. It's opening doors. It's helping people going through similar things connect with each other, providing a safe and supportive climate to disclose their issues and get help.

This campaign, unlike many cause marketing campaigns, makes sense. Bell is a communication company. Let's Talk participants aren't participating by buying products branded pink, to support breast cancer, as claimed by the brands. Products that infantalize women, offer no support. There is a product marketed in the Let's Talk cause: Bell services. But using Bell services can actually help. Texting a friend about about your experience with mental illness. Calling your mom long distance to disclose your illness to her.

The Bell Let's Talk website provides important information and statistics, personal stories on mental illness and makes it very easy to disseminate this information with social media sharing buttons. The website also includes a great Toolkit zip download of many informative resources about mental health you can read, share at the workplace, schools, etc.

I often get the sense from cause marketing that many or most participants don't understand or even care about the cause. Last Movember, I noted that it fostered no discourse from participants about prostate cancer, only about moustaches, and didn't further any awareness. Even companies participating barely even mentioned prostate cancer and at most, only shared redundant, controversial health advice. It seemed to me that the campaign's trivial nature and disconnection from the cause itself prevented this discourse.

Let's Talk is totally different. The campaign, by its very nature, promotes discourse. And corporate and individual participants are talking. Support will be the legacy of Let's Talk. Any campaign that successfully supports awareness AND funds is on the right track, I think. It will be interesting to see where the money goes and how it will help.

Gender Issues of Pinktober and Movember

With pinktober and Movember behind us, I've been reflecting on some interesting similarities, correlations and themes between them. Most of these revolve around gender.

While researching both of these, I noticed many argue that Movember was the time to focus on men's health, as October was all about women: "You have pinktober; we have Movember." When women complained that Movember was exclusionary because women can't grow moustaches, male defenders of Movember argued: "We didn't protest against pinktober."

There's this idea that if you are against either campaign, you are against the gender it purports to serve and all for the other campaign. Kind of ironic when you consider that many people against Movember are socially conscious and hate pinktober for similar reasons they hate Movember.

Best Facebook Awareness Campaign Ever!

I created this image to satirize the slacktivism "I bet 99% of you won't repost this" Facebook awareness campaigns. If you want to stop slacktivism and encourage real awareness, you'll share this. Don't worry; I'm trying to be ironic.

I think it would be hilarious if people thought this was serious. Or if it went viral for any reason. I saved this image to the Beyond Passing Time Facebook Page, so maybe!

A Letter to Movember Participants

Movember is upon us and I couldn't help but notice an even more disturbing trend:

There is no discourse about prostate cancer in any of the participation I have found in my Facebook feed or in Twitter search.

So I searched Google, under a variety of keywords and phrases. Same result. Well, some of these at least used the word "awareness," so I guess that counts, right?

Pinktober Exploits Women with Breast Cancer

If you read my blog, it's probably no surprise to you that I vehemently oppose pink breast cancer marketing, where products, services and NFL games are decked out in pink, supposedly to support women with breast cancer, but the barrage of pink is actually just a marketing tool to support the companies who use it.

I have read countless blog posts, news stories, Tweets, Facebook posts and even a book called "Pink Ribbon Blues" about this infiltration of pink and how it hurts women. I studied pink culture a bit in university. A popular documentary called "Pink Ribbons Inc. was released earlier this year, coincidentally (or not?) around the same time as the Komen/Planned Parenthood scandal.

Signing an Online Petition is NOT Slacktivism

Yesterday I wrote this comment on a blog post called Stop Calling Them Slacktivists that argued that slacktivism can create change.

I don’t consider signing an online petition an example of slacktivism. Just because it is easy and quick, that doesn’t mean it’s slacktivism. We can’t paint all social media campaigns with the same brush. A lot of people do and this hurts the reputation of the good social media campaigns.

Copying and Pasting Awareness

"I bet 99 % of you won't repost this"

Many Facebook users post status updates that include this message after reposting it from someone else's. This is so rude. Passive aggressive. A guilt trip. They're pretty much saying "I don't think you'll join me in dealing with issue; I don't think you care about this cause, but I'll post this anyway." Is this how we garner support? We recycle someone else's message, instead of creating our own, and we guilt trip people -- our friends -- in the process? 

Boobstagram Breast Cancer "Awareness"

It's depressing what can be justified under the veil of "awareness."

What now?