Weblog

Why is the color of my wife’s bra anyone’s business?

Posted in: Audience, by: Mario Garcia

Jan 11, 2010
12:44 AM

Last Friday I logged on to Facebook and was shocked to read my wife’s latest status update: Tammy Garcia is “Nude!!!” I had a quick succession of thoughts—“someone has hijacked my wife’s Facebook account,” “what is she thinking publishing that?,” and “what am I still doing in front of my laptop?!” Before I clumsily and hastily closed out of Facebook to hurry home, I noticed some other strange updates from my female friends—“pink,” “black,” “beige,” “none.” It wasn’t long before I realized these were bra colors (apparently “nude” is a color) and this was some sort of Facebook meme.

No one really knows how this started, but there is evidence that it’s to raise awareness for breast cancer. And it appears to have done its job. People at the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (who had nothing to do with the campaign) were stunned to see their Facebook page grow from 135 fans to over 170,000 in just two days.

Why did so many people engage?

EVERYONE IS CONNECTED

The tagline of Mitch Joel’s wonderful book, “Six Pixels of Separation” is “Everyone is Connected.” In it Joel states that the theory that we are all connected through fewer than six degrees is no longer relevant. In the digital world (Internet, social networks, etc.) there are no degrees of separation, everyone is connected.

If you’re on Facebook, you’re connected in one way or another to over 300 million members.  Which means if a message is engaging or interesting enough the potential to spread it far and fast exists. This theory holds true in even your own digital communities. Think about all the contacts in your email contact list or on your mobile phone. Then think about those contacts’ contacts. Spreading the word is now as easy as write it and “click.”

THE MESSAGE MATTERS

My wife’s bra color probably wouldn’t matter to many people, but breast cancer awareness is very relevant. I’m sure all of us know someone who has battled with breast cancer. There’s an inherent emotional attachment that makes the cause for a cure relevant to all of us. Somewhere in the “what color is your bra” Facebook threads we saw this message:

“We are playing a game for Breast Cancer Awareness. Write the color of your bra as your status—just the color, nothing else!! Copy this and pass it on to all girls—NO MEN!! This will be fun to see how it spreads.”

I’ve read some blog posts regarding this campaign that dismiss this as more “flirting” than supporting the breast cancer cause. I don’t happen to agree. The reason so many Facebook users participated was that the message mattered. I find it hard to believe that so many women would share the color of their bras with the world just for attention (not most of them, anyway). If the message matters and we have an emotional attachment to it, we’re more apt to pay attention, then pass it along to other it may matter to.

FUN AND DIFFERENT

Breast cancer is a serious disease. The importance of raising awareness for mammograms and self-exams cannot be overstated. But would a simple message like “remember to get regular screenings” have enticed as much participation and gone as far as fast as “what color is your bra?”

I’ve read some negative posts that this unofficial campaign has actually done nothing to raise awareness and was pointless. Totally disagree. True, you don’t get the message of “get regular screenings” from describing your bra color, but the fact is women engaged. They already know about getting yearly screenings. But this served as a fun hook, something different to make us think about it again. And it also grew the Susan G. Komen community on their Facebook page, giving them that many more people to pass their important message to. If anything, this demonstrates that we shouldn’t be afraid to have fun with the message and make it different.

Except, of course, if it means that everybody knows the color of my wife’s undergarments.