Showing posts with label facebook holi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label facebook holi. Show all posts

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Facebook 'Holi' fad follow-up

This is a follow-up post to my rant about the 'what colour bra - facebook fad' the other day. I still think it was a (very?) silly exercise. But I read up a lot about it today, and here's what I found/concluded/etc.:

  • It is believed to have begun by some ladies in Detroit. But no one really knows where it originated so far. Two women, in fact, claim to have got the earliest mails that day - but at the time, it had not yet been linked with breast cancer. Later in the day, these two ladies that this very had been sufficiently modified and turned into a viral 'awareness' tool.

  • How far this spreads awareness is still a question in my mind. But it works in the American context, reminding women to go in for their annual mammogram. In India, how many women actually schedule one until and unless they find a lump somewhere? I'm 25 and I don't go for these check-ups. And I don't know anyone who does either. Makes you think doesn't it?

  • I still believe that there should have been a short attachment with the mail or the status update.: a link to a cancer site, a message that goes: Have you gone for your check-up? Just typing out your bra colour does nothing for the cause. And I'm convinced that minus the 'breast cancer' tag, many women would not even have gone along with the gag.

  • If I got a similar mail in future, I would react the same way. Every little step forward is a step forward, but some education must accompany every fad. Had the mail not made angered me, I would've just written out my undercolours, had a laugh at my male friends' expense and forgotten about it. But as it turns out, the fad made me react - and it's got me thinking about that annual mammogram. Will I go for one in the near future? Perhaps not. But at least it's got me thinking.