Newsflash: Facebook "Drink" Status Won’t Cure Cancer (and what PR people can learn from this missed opportunity)

Remember the “which bra color are you wearing” meme? What about the “where is your purse” craze that swept Facebook? To refresh your memory, the statements — born out of Facebook chain messages — are supposed to support breast cancer awareness.

The latest attempt involves alcoholic beverages:

We want us GIRLS to do something special in Facebook to help gain consciousness of Breast Cancer. Its so easy that I’d like you to join us to make it spread!
The first year it was about writing the colour of the bra you were wearing in your FB status… and it left men wondering for days why did the girls have colours (apparently random) in our status. Last year it was about where you like to keep your purse when you are home. This year it has to do with our love relationships. In other words, in this moment, which drink represents your relationship status?

tequila: I’m a single woman
rum: I’m a touch and go woman
champagne: I’m an engaged woman
redbull: I’m a woman in a relationship
beer: I’m a married woman
vodka: I’m the “other one”
sprite: I’m a woman that can’t find the right man
whisky: I’m a single woman but with friends that won’t stop partying
liquor: I’m a woman that wishes she was single.
gin: I’m a woman that wants to get married

Now all you need to do is write down the answer for your situation in your FB status (don’t reply this email, just put it in your status). Also, cut and paste this message and send it to all your girl-friends as a message. The Bra game reached the news. Lets make this one make it too and see how powerful women are.

In response to the bra meme, a Newsweek columnist pointed out that these type of efforts are “harmless, but pointless.” I’d say this follow-up campaign is equally pointless.

I don’t know what organization(s) or person(s) are behind the Facebook chain mail campaign. It doesn’t really matter. There’s a valuable lesson here for PR people.

If you think public relations is about securing stacks of media placements, getting a Twitter message re-tweeted a bunch, or seeing how many people you can attract to your latest campaign, you’re wrong. All of those outcomes may help a PR campaign achieve the desired goals, but not necessarily. PR partially involves inciting meaningful action by incorporating the right mix of tools and tactics to deliver the right message to the right audience.

Meaningful action — that’s the difference.

Your bra color or “drink status” is not meaningful action. Not until the same people who identify themselves as “beer” or “tequila” or some other adult beverage post a second message with a call to action to support breast cancer awareness or research. At a minimum, the campaign should include a secondary message with a call to action and link to American Cancer Society, the Spielman Fund for Cancer Research or Komen for the Cure or some other organization fighting cancer.

Until the call to action is put in place, campaigns such as these may be fun or clever, but they’re still missing the point.

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