A couple weeks ago a bunch of my female friends began posting colors — and only a color — in their Facebook status updates. “Nude and turquoise.” “Black.” “Pink.” I didn’t really think much of it until about the fifth unrelated friend did it. Was this supposed to describe some sort of emotion or mood they were in at the time? I had to know, but wasn’t about to look like the clueless idiot by asking them.

So I Googled “why are people posting colors on facebook?” Here’s what I found out. Women around the world are posting their bra color on Facebook in order to raise awareness for breast cancer. Nology noted that it took place over the course of January 8, 2010. Though women were still posting a week later.

No one really knows how it started. I’ve heard it started in Michigan. One news source states it could have been overseas. I asked my girlfriends how they heard about it and they told me fellow Facebookers. Organic colleague Leah Salt thought it stemmed from the UK because she saw it from her friends there first. “It’s funny because all my British friends started posting their bra colours and it took a whole 24 hours before my Canadian & American friends caught on.”

One thing is for sure, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer foundation didn’t start it, but it’s surely caused a spike in their followers.

Last week my colleague Craig Ritchie started a thread talking about the success of the campaign. The Dallas News reported that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer foundation had 134,000 fans on their Facebook page before this trend started. Today they have 164,481 fans.

Komen is happy that the viral message has prompted women to schedule mammograms. One woman posted “My revealing my bra color made me remember to schedule my Mammogram for this yr….Nude!”

Men have even joined. One male posted this on the Susan G. Komen’s wall:
“fresh & white [MEN for breast cancer awareness]” and another “green [MEN for breast cancer awareness].”

The trend not only prompted individuals to speak out, it spurred community on all fronts. The creator of the Facebook group “breast cancer awareness ♥ I updated my Status with my Bra colour ♥” started on January 7, 2010 claims she didn’t start the bra color campaign. Though she definitely helped to keep it going. The Group is now up to 93,652 fans.

The awareness “campaign” — if you can really label it a campaign since there’s no known root or long-term strategy behind it — has both supporters and critics (though seemingly much fewer of the latter).

I think it’s a pretty creative way to get people thinking, talking and acting on something that affects so many people. I wonder if because it began so obscurely that it really took off. I feel that when a brand ties itself too closely to convincing people to take action that fans are more often turned off. So if the Foundation actually did start it and just gave credit to the people, that’s one heck of a smart strategy. And if they didn’t, they definitely did the right thing by supporting it.

Sarah Jo Sautter