Cancer Awareness
 

I'm so confused. Why are people jpg-ing themselves with no makeup for cancer awareness? It's all over my facebook and I have no idea what the purpose of this activity is!!

Haha i thought this too!someone had the caption 'doing this to help cure cancer' nooo idea how it does that!

unless they are getting people to sponsor them for wearing no make up for a certain amount of days, then I have no idea how it helps cure cancer or helps those affected by cancer.

I've read that it's just to prompt people to get talking about cancer
Any talk is better than none, and especially for 'the younger generation' who may not be so aware/ realise quite how serious it is though.

Disease "awareness" has become a huge racket. I've made it a point not to donate to anything "official". People are being used.

Surely, if anything, younger people nowadays are becoming desensitised to cancer, because "awareness" is everywhere.

I can't say I was desensitised when my grandpa got diagnosed with cancer, I think if anything I completely understood the seriousness of it, which in turn prepared me for when he passed away.

I'm not saying that's my opinion though, that's just what I've read on facebook about it. I'm not really sure what I feel about it.

Although I have also just read:
'From CRUK's own web page:
"We love the support we're getting from #nomakeupselfie. For the quickest way to donate, text BEAT to 70099 to donate £3. "'

I also have seen several pictures of people donating rather than doing a 'selfie', so in my eyes it has now actually been successful if they were donations which otherwise wouldn't have been made.

It has done some good over all in that people are talking about it and some people have donated to make a point, but essentially, a selfie in itself wont help cure cancer.

I think the selfie is the way into involving a wider audience. It prompts people whenever there is hype, but as mentioned above, nothing sadly makes a person learn faster when they have to deal with cancer closer to home.

In knowing there was a lot of support and charities out there, people also know there is help available. I don't see how it desensitises people to awareness. Unless you think it makes people irritated to the point they don't wish to partake in donations, but that isn't desensitization to me.

I can see why people find it irritating however and think it must be quite 'in your face' for some people going through a hard time at the moment.

The concept of the selfie with no make up started in September last year I think but the purpose of that was for people to go to work with no make up on (or wherever) and get sponsored for it, thus raising money and awareness.

I do think that although it's not raising money, the facebook idea is doing good because people are thinking about it more and talking about it. Even if it's just to question why people are doing it! Also, I've noticed quite a lot of ladies including symptoms or charts of what to look out for. Perhaps in a way it also breaks down the taboo subject of checking breasts because if it becomes the 'norm' to talk about it, perhaps more ladies and indeed men would feel comfortable asking about how to do it correctly/what to look for.

My Grandma K died of breast cancer many years ago now as well as my foster Mum and I think they would be proud of these campaigns and the people that are daring to bare because for some, it probably really isn't easy to flaunt a piccie of themselves with no make up. Obviously infinitely easier than having cancer or knowing somebody with cancer but at least people are trying to help.

I just find it really lazy....all your doing is taking a picture of your face and then people post saying how wonderful it is. If it was just a trend thing I would get it,but passing it off like it does anything to do with cancer/raising awareness just seems like a ploy to make it look like you're not being super vain.

What I meant about desensitising was that cancer awareness seems to be everywhere. It seems like you cannot turn on the TV without there being adverts, or go up a high street without campaigners, or even into shops without there being stuff. Awareness campaigns are not particularly new, they are everywhere. The other weekend there were women dressed as pink gorillas (I think!) doing dancing in the street and having one of those knock-over-the-cans stalls. It is everywhere.

I have appreciation for the recurrent signs of cancer awareness. I feel it does good and the more you refresh potential signs the better educated you can be to know when to see a GP.

That said, the exception would be people with health anxiety, then again even they can get very sick... I ramble >.<

The point is to donate and do the picture. I don't see the point in the picture, but a 70% of the people on my facebook post a picture and their donation. I donated when I saw the campaign, though I didn't do the picture. I think it's really nice.

I think facebook has a tendency to do things like this, remember the thing where you post where you post a status that seems possibly sexual but it's actually just about where you keep your handbag?

I was tagged to post a picture of myself without makeup, which I did, because I was tagged by some people I'd recently talked to about how they had lost loved ones to cancer, so I did it out of a courtesy/respect kind of thing.

But unless people are donating money to charity, or they are being sponsored to post a picture of themselves without make up, I don't really see how it can raise awareness to any sort of productive or constructive level personally.

Marie Claire has a good article about all the contrived, hyper awareness. Fact is marketers now they can manipulate people with diseases. In US the NFL (US football) spends the whole month of October on breast cancer "awareness". Players wear pink socks, sweat bands, shoes etc. Nike and others sell most of this stuff. High school athletes buy it all up as well now. After Nike and NFL the breast cancers groups get 6% of profits. From that small amount come the salaries, marketing costs etc. I always say if people want to give money its better to donate more directly to people who need it and forget the big campaigns which I think start to trivialize causes.



"Though the NFL has, shall we say, a complicated history with women, its embrace of breast cancer awareness is perhaps only fitting. After all, in the nearly 20 years since the pink ribbon became the official symbol of the cause — Estée Lauder cosmetics counters handed out 1.5 million of them in 1992 as part of the first-ever nationwide awareness campaign to leverage the pink ribbon — breast cancer has become the NFL of diseases, glutted with corporate sponsorships, merchandise deals, and ad campaigns. This is true year-round, but especially in October, when breast cancer marketing reaches a frothy pink frenzy.

This month, an awareness-minded consumer can buy almost any knickknack or household item in pink — from lint brushes and shoelaces to earbuds and Snuggies. If she happens to be in an American Airlines Admirals Club, she can snack on pink cookies while drinking pink champagne. If instead she finds herself at one of the nation's 500 Jersey Mike's Subs franchises, for about $7 she can order the "pink ribbon combo," consisting of a sandwich, chips, and soda served in a limited-edition pink plastic cup (because nothing says "cancer awareness" like chips and soda).

Though breast cancer researchers and advocates perpetually plead for more money, the disease is, in fact, awash in it."


The Big Business of Breast Cancer



http://www.marieclaire.com/world-rep...business-scams

Exactly. For me, and I may have got the completely wrong message, it says more about my 'failure' to wear make up everyday and thus as a woman to ensure I look my best, then cancer awareness. I'm not explaining this well... it's affected my self-esteem to be honest as I'm kind of thinking: 'Well I don't wear make up, I'm letting myself (and womanhood) down.' I think it's set a standard that I don't feel I meet. I just don't think it is the best way to campaign. Having said that, it caught my awareness so...

^ you're not alone, I've been getting the same message! I only wear make up for special occasions. Next to never during the day. But I've seen a few horrible status about how awful 'even pretty girl' look without makeup... and it definitely wasn't a joke. Then pictures of ugly monsters etc going round representing our pictures...

I posted a makeup free selfie today. Makeup free wasn't an issue for me, I don't wear it. Taking a selfie was, I almost never post pictures of myself. But I also posted a message about texting to donate to cancer research, or choosing yur own charity to donate to.

At the end of last year, my granddad had a fall. In January when he wasn't getting better he was admitted to hospital and a scan showed multiple tumours in his spine and elsewhere. By the end of February, he got an infection and died.
If I could afford to donate regularly I would, but I can't, so I hope my £3 donation helps. And the only way I knew the details to donate to was because I was tagged in a friends selfie. It really annoys me when people don't put any info about donating when they post their selfie, then the point is lost!

Also, I think it's better than previous years 'awareness' campaigns. Does anyone remember 'I like it on the stairs/by the front door' status'? About where you left your handbag. Because that would raise awareness somehow when no explanation or donation link was ever provided!

I had a bit of a rant about this on facebook yesterday. i wonder how many people are posting their photos and not making a donation. i'm already aware of cancer (it took away my grandad), and i make a donation whenever i can, not when because of the latest facebook craze. also i never wear make up, so any selfie i have posted is a no make up selfie.

have you all heard about the one guys are doing? sock on a **** or something lol