As I type this my view of Facebook is slowly mutating into pictures of 80s cartoon characters. There’s nothing wrong with that in principle, because I as much as anyone regard 80s kids TV as the pinnacle of creative genius never to be seen again.
But when the 5th or 6th person changed their profile picture, I had to ask, what the hell is going on?
It turns out that a ‘campaign from the NSPCC’ is encouraging people to change their profile pictures between the 4th and 6th of December 2010 to ‘raise awareness’ for the charity.
I have 2 immediate problems with this:
1) This is not an official NSPCC campaign, it wasn’t hard to check.
2) Just how does changing your profile picture to a cartoon character accomplish anything at all?
Now I won’t do down the work of the charity, which, like most charities, is very laudable, necessary, and worthy of support. The NSPCC is however a very large, national charity and it’s not a reach to assume that vast majority are aware of its existence. A campaign which makes you vaguely aware of their continued presence in the world doesn’t seem very worthy. So what is going on?
It’s not hard to work out. Facebook is chock-full of needless ‘groups’ that are the social networking equivalent of the old emails which said ‘FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW OR A KITTEN WILL DIE’, and similar. Those emails were also annoying, full of inaccurate information (if purporting to be about a real thing) and invariably a waste of time. Such emails, some from 10 years ago, occasionally re-circulate when some impressionable person sends it off to hundreds of people, who then send it on in the same manner, and so on.
Facebook groups are equally pointless. Their sole intent is to get a critical mass of people who ‘Like’ the group, and there are millions of such groups where people state their support of things such as ‘NO TUITION FEES’ or ‘CHARLIE BROOKER FOR PM’ and even ’10 MILLION PEOPLE AGAINST THE NEW FACEBOOK LAYOUT’.
All such groups are meaningless. Very often once they’ve acquired a huge number of people pointlessly ‘Liking’ the group, and thus becoming susceptible to updates from that group in their news feeds, it’ll start sending out massive spamming adverts to those hundreds of thousands of people, and no doubt making a tidy profit in the process. The original intent of the group is long gone, even if it genuinely existed in the first place.
What frustrates me more is the general susceptibility of the average person, who both assumes the initiative is genuine (for no reason other than a charity’s name is attached), and then believes that following the instructions in some way does that charity some good. If you really want to help a charity the best thing you can actually do when you come across some kind of garbled nonsense like this is to donate some money to them. They will find it much more effective than the questionable ‘awareness raising’ your cartoon picture is doing. If you were looking for a way to satisfy your need to feel like you’re doing some selfless good, reaching into your pocket is a great deal more meaningful.
Don’t be a sheep and mindlessly pass these things on. Do a little research, ascertain the credibility of something you’re being asked to repeat, and consider whether it’s actually a worthwhile thing to do. Don’t get caught up in yet another viral hoax that is nothing but self-serving to its creator. Come on people, none of this is even hard.
26 replies on “NSPCC Facebook Cartoon Profile ‘Campaign’”
My sentiments exactly! I donate to the NSPCC through a monthly direct debit. I have no intention in changing my profile picture for an unofficial campaign which is just someone trying to see how much influence they can have on the FB sheep. Some of my friends may think I’m a kill-joy but I’m just VERY wary of the chain-letters, chain-statuses and scaremongering messages that FB seems rife with.
Even now people are raging against me for not ‘helping to stop child abuse’. The incredible short-sightedness of such a reaction just astounds me. Do people not realise that plugging the NSPCC is just the mechanism by which they’re being sucked in? Ugh.
xxxxxxxxxxxxx and 21 other friends changed their profile pictures.
FFS…
Guys…its christmas, lighten the fuck up.
Well I thought it was great…
Then realised it could be a hoax
Are we allowed to get caught and redeem ourselves by giving money?
🙂
Turn the hoax genuine in some way!
The post now has a link attached to http://www.justgiving.com which means you can donate to the NSPCC and if you dont trust that site it suggests you go direct to the NSPCC website. It may have started off as someone’s idea of fun but it has generated a lot of talk and welcomed memories, cant we just take the positive message from it and raise awareness of child abuse!
I have uploaded a cartoon pic and I have also done some research hence this webpage and my visit to the NSPCC site. I will give a small donation so no harm done. People need to lighten up!
Certainly KAB; the worthiness of the cause was never in question, and I’m sure the NSPCC will get some amount of legitimate funds as a result. But that’s the key point here – funds are what they need. People already know there exists a charity called the NSPCC, but have no reason to support it. A campaign that seeks to raise awareness by changing a profile picture for a couple of days doesn’t do anything. Encouraging people to give them money would.
But the charity is an aside from the point – the initiative was just another ‘SPREAD THIS LINK AND GET ME MORE LIKES’ effort like the billions of others on facebook that shouldn’t exist. Plugging the NSPCC was just a gimmick to draw you in. The fact it may have unintentionally done a little good is an unexpected side-effect.
I would suggest instead of moaning, that people take a look at the group and they will safely see there is a link to raise money.
http://www.justgiving.com/fbcartoon
Indeed, there is a link *now*, and only as a result of criticism like this, so this ‘moaning’ does serve a purpose.
After a little checking I can also see several links to JustGiving that purport to be in connection to the campaign. Of course, none of them are official but still good nonetheless.
Seriously, you are such a cynic!! Firstly, I think whether the nspcc set up the campaign or not it has got EVERYONE talking about the charity and that can only be a good thing right??!! I think its very clever and facebook now looks like a big wash of fond childhood memories which makes it have even more of an impact considering these young children that suffer from violence have no such memories. It puts things into perspective and myself, one being in a house where violence was present everyday of my childhood, I am fully supporting this campaign and think everyone else should do so too. Whether its official or not!!!!
To the auther of the article above… it is with a very arrogant manner that you post your article. I agree with your commets however it shows to me that you are trying to protray an image of yourslef like ‘I’m right and you lot are idiots’.
Thanks for the advice. But I feel this viral cartoon profile pic thing has caught peoples attention as at its core people feel obliged to take up an initative which most people would. The actual pic isn’t hurting anyone and I think most people would see it as some light hearted fun.
Not to repeat myself too much though chap, my point is that simply plugging a charity lends legitimacy to what is just another ‘LIKE THIS PAGE’ Facebook group.
To summarise:
Cause: Good
Intent of Group Author: Bad
Benefit: Unexpected, but good.
I’m critical of the both the method and the mindlessness of people that simply follow instructions without doing the least bit of fact-checking. They were deluded into thinking it was an official campaign, it wasn’t. They also thought changing the picture itself in some way helps the charity, it doesn’t. The fact it has indirectly caused consternation and annoyance due to its pointlessness is actually the only thing that has given it any worth whatsoever. The word here is ironic.
The comment was at the author of the original article.
Point taken.
Sorry Sid, ‘Pete’ is the author. Apologies if this wasn’t clear.
Are Blogs any more valid or worthwhile than Facebook groups in 2010/2011, given the arguments you put forward?
This is a prime example of how much facebook has control of the minds of facebookers. They needed to find out just how many dummies tune in to facebook on a daily basis. Just like a line of ducks crossing the street, they all following the leader.
Hi Carlos. The answer is evidently yes, because I am at least presenting an argument, rather than merely saying ‘OMG LIKE THIS REGARDLESS OF CONTENT AND GET ALL YOUR FRIENDS TO AS WELL!!!11’
my life and i expect most peoples lives are pretty busy and for me a gentle reminder that encourages you to think of some of the unfortunate children around a time like christmas and compare them with memories of how your life was like as a child is excellent!! (whether its NSPCC initiated or not)
Some will be encouraged to donate and some will just see it as a fad but if noone passes on the message then are the NSPCC going to be better off? i don’t think so.
As for facebook manipulation, powers of control, susceptibility and all that balls…. that is the world we live in.
James, it’s not the world I live in …
I totally agree with this article and things like these stupid facebook groups are a complete waste of time and no one really gives a damn about it – they just do it because everyone is doing it. Just like ‘sheep’. Plus you know your details are going to get swiped and spam will be on it’s it way to you. There are much more effective ways of spending your time and energy for charities than ‘changing your profile picture’ hmmmm.
I don’t watch TV but I do keep up with the news online so I live in a bit of bubble. If it wasn’t for the Facebook meme, indended or not, I wouldn’t have given to or even know about children in need this year.
I personally think it is a wonderful example of public spirtiedness and the power of networks for doing good!
People have also talked about the origonal purpose being something about pedophiles. That you be wrong too I don’t know, if it is I think it’s great that people have turned something bad in to something good.
It’s also fun to see what other people remember. I’ve had my memory jogged a lot although I’m disapointed that no one did Sharkey and George. I really don’t see how you can see anything negative about this at all.
As for Facebook groups, many are pointless I agree but is it really worth getting worked up about them. Still? I was doing that in 2008. I’m over it now. And liking things can be useful to see how much you have in common with people you’ve only recently friended and can start conversations about shared obscure interests that might never have come to light.
So there! =P
FACEBOOK CARTOON FAD= FAKE campaign
NSPCC= FAKE charity
* If a charity pays it’s executives hundreds of thousands or millions of pounds a year, it probably doesnt need your money!
* If the charity gets huge amounts of money from the government, it probably doesn’t need your money!
* If the charity can afford to spend large proportions of it’s income on advertising campaigns, it probably doesn’t need your money!
FULL STOP!
ok, i’d like to make two points.
one :the nspcc is government and donation funded. they then plough that money back into advertising for more money, and administration. in 2009 the NSPCC ‘s top bosses (all 28 of them) paid themselves £213,000,000. ahem. anybody else sickened? there’s plenty of children’s charities that aren’t government funded and use every penny where it’s intended who need our support. a little research on google will unearth plenty.
two: ‘All such groups are meaningless’? maybe talk to simon cowell about that one. i thought the rage against the machine campaign was great. f*** you i wont buy what you sell me. that also applies to fake charities.
Fair comment bee, I must admit I did buy Rage again last year myself, but only because it’s a quality track – but that group did have a genuine objective that wasn’t self-serving or pointless ;o)