Do You Like it On The…?: A Case-Study of Reactions to a Facebook Campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Authors

Myleea D. Hill, Arkansas State UniversityFollow
Marceline Hayes, Arkansas State UniversityFollow

Abstract

Awareness is a common goal of public health campaigns. However, awareness as an end goal may be counter-productive and may lead to slactivism instead of action. The purpose of the present research was to analyze reactions to the Facebook breast cancer “Do You Like it on the …”game via feedback to an article stating that the game is not cute/sexy/informative. Thematic analysis revealed several themes: Support or Disagreement with the author’s points, the Game is Ineffective, the Game Spreads Awareness, and Awareness is the Beginning. The researchers suggested (1) a distinction be made between awareness and attention and awareness and knowledge and (2) campaigns should communicate specific informative messages and move beyond simply gaining attention and creating general awareness.

Keywords

Awareness, Health Campaigns, Slacktivism, Thematic Analysis

Author Bio(s)

Myleea D. Hill, Ed.D., is an associate professor of strategic communication at Arkansas State University. Her teaching specialties are advertising and public relations, and her research interests include communication pedagogy and health communication campaigns. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed directly to Myleea D. Hill, Department of Communication, Arkansas State University, PO Box 1930, State University, AR 72467; Email: mhill@astate.edu.

Marceline Hayes, Ph.D., is a professor of communication studies at Arkansas State University. Her teaching specialties are qualitative research methods and relational communication and her research interests include public health campaigns, media studies, and relational communication. Correspondence regarding this article can also be addressed directly to Marceline Hayes, Department of Communication, Arkansas State University, PO Box 1930, State University, AR 72467; Email: mhayes@astate.edu.

Publication Date

11-1-2015

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2015.2364

Recommended APA Citation

Hill, M. D., & Hayes, M. (2015). Do You Like it On The…?: A Case-Study of Reactions to a Facebook Campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The Qualitative Report, 20(11), 1747-1762. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2015.2364