Tuesday, May 25, 2010

kiss goodbye to MS

So apparently there's this event on tomorrow which involves girls (and boys, I guess) wearing red lipstick to raise awareness about MS (Multiple Sclerosis).

Heh.

Because, you know, MS doesn't already get publicity enough without the MS Read-a-thon (people would have noticed Bindi Irwin's shrill fakeplastic voice in the ads) and various other activities, right?

And judging from the event itself, it seems to be just another publicity stunt. I mean, explain to me exactly how wearing red lipstick is going to help MS at all? You're not raising money, you're not working for a cure...you're just wearing red lipstick. This is like Earth Hour all over again, but with even less real impact.

There are those that say that I'm too cynical. I disagree. Of course charity and fundraising is important; I am willing to admit that in some cases it is necessary and indeed beneficial that such activities take place. But this event appears to contribute nothing at all. How many of those people wearing lipstick tomorrow do you actually believe have any understanding at all of MS? Do they really even care about raising awareness (pointless task in my opinion; a newspaper advert would reach more people), or is it to them simply a chance to put on some makeup for a "good cause" that makes THEM look good?

4 comments:

linh said...

:D hahaha people may ask them "why are you wearing red lipsticks today?"
then they can elaborate on MS using their extensive knowledge of the disease.

or they can just shrug :D

vincent said...

viral marketing.

swangg said...

i think they should just do a normal fundraiser.....

Unknown said...

Isn't it better, though, that they did SOMETHING to bring awareness? Publicity stunt or not, the fact that you just wrote about it, wrote about MS, and created an opinion (against it, granted, but an opinion nonetheless) means that it achieved what it wanted to achieve: create awareness.

You wrote that there should be some fundraising, or some sort of impact. The fact that you wrote about it means that you are acting off the awareness of MS. If there was no event, you would not have written this post, and there will be one less opinion on MS out there.

Btw, Hi OJ, Swang said I should read your blog.

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