I'm not a cartoon, but I still care about the kiddies.

[Wallenstein]

Meh… it’s only a bit of fun, doesn’t harm any kids directly and (in the UK at least) potentially raises the profile of the NSPCC. Both my wife and I are fully aware that it won’t make the slightest difference to actually stopping child abuse, but sometimes it’s nice to join in… it’s not being a sheep or a slacktivist, just a lighthearted 30sec change to a picture.

For our part it then led to a really enjoyable evening browsing youtube for clips from the shows our friends put upm stuff we used to watch but had forgotten about… not a bad way to spend a chilly Sunday evening.

[dhkendall]

@One_And_Only_Wanderers

I personally view it in the same light as when the fad was to use a picture of yourself from the 80’s. I am in no way kidding myself that I am making a stand against child abuse with this gesture!

The worst part about it is, you can’t tell the people who believe every meme that comes along will change the world from the people who just like the idea of changing their avatar to a childhood cartoon.

BTW, relevant thread on the subject

@Eonwe

Just another example of people kidding themselves that anything they do for fun in their virtual playpens has any bearing on anything.

I can see it now, just a few elections down the road:

What?? [Candidate A] won the election? But [Candidate B] has more friends on Facebook! How can that be? [Candidate A] stole the election!

[NinetyWt]

@ColdPhoenix

Excellent!! One of my friends has changed her picture to a cartoon and also has this annoying habit of following those cut and paste into your status so everyone know about this danger to the kids!!! (I think she believes them all)

THis might make her head explode!

Send her this, then:

ATTENTION:
the group asking everyone to change their profile picture to a cartoon
character is actually a group of pedophiles. There doing it because
kids wil accept their friend request faster if they see a cartoon
picture. It has nothing to do with any Child charities. IT’S ON
…TONIGHTS NEWS. …Copy & Paste this on to your status - Let
everyone know. Change ur pic back to what it was ASAP!

[PookahMacPhellimey]

The PDF-file was also invented by a pedofile. *

*Can’t take the credit for this one, was a friend of a FB friend.

[Hampshire]

Reminds me of the saying:

“If you support the troops put a magnetic yellow ribbon on your car. It’s the least you can do. (No, literally, it’s the LEAST you can do.)”

[joyfool]

What Snopes has to say.

[Zebra]

Well it really it the least you can do to help children.

[Skald_the_Rhymer]

I had already changed my profile pic to such a picture before I heard about the effort, so I ignored it.

[Dogzilla]

I don’t care about the children. I don’t have any; that’s my contribution to preventing child abuse.

However. I can’t have my 92 Facebook friends thinking that I condone child abuse, now can I? Better jump on the bandwagon and change my damn avatar because I might be unfriended. And I don’t think I can take the trauma.

Side question: My avatar photo was me in my Halloween Wonder Woman costume, doing a trick on my stripper pole called “Superman.” Does that count as my cartoon character avatar?

[Munch]

So once people switch back to their regular pictures, I can start beating children again, right?

[Skald_the_Rhymer]

@Dogzilla

My avatar photo was me in my Halloween Wonder Woman costume, doing a trick on my stripper pole called “Superman.” Does that count as my cartoon character avatar?

We need to see the picture to make that judgment.

[Katriona]

Well, while the pedophile stuff in this article is a bit over the top, it does point out that 1. This didn’t come from the charity whose name is being bandied about, and 2. Child Abuse Prevention Month was in April.

Facebook cartoon character campaign 'nothing to do with the NSPCC', charity says

[Peremensoe]

@Wallenstein

Both my wife and I are fully aware that it won’t make the slightest difference to actually stopping child abuse, but sometimes it’s nice to join in… it’s not being a sheep or a slacktivist,

What do “sheep” and “slacktivist” mean, then?

[Alan_Smithee]

@An_Arky

Eh, can’t be too bothered by this, however, now there’s another FB status thing out there claiming that the cartoon character thing is a pedophile device to ensnare unsuspecting children and we should all take down our cartoon character avatars in a show of unsolidarity with those evil pedos.

Is it too soon to start a rumor that this rumor was started by child abusers who were worried that the cartoon character FB pics were raising too much awareness?

[Inner_Stickler]

Meh, I changed my pic to one of molasses cookies with the statement: I am using a picture of molasses cookies in protest of childhood obesity, cholera and arson. Stop arsonists in their track, change your profile to a snack!

[Grumman]

@Alan_Smithee

Is it too soon to start a rumor that this rumor was started by child abusers who were worried that the cartoon character FB pics were raising too much awareness?

Or maybe the pedophiles aren’t happy with the recent flood of competition?"

“Hello, Susy, can we be friends? Look, I’ve got a cartoon character as my avatar!”
“No thanks, mister. I’ve already got 200 friends with cartoon characters as avatars.”

[dhkendall]

@Inner_Stickler

Meh, I changed my pic to one of molasses cookies with the statement: I am using a picture of molasses cookies in protest of childhood obesity, cholera and arson. Stop arsonists in their track, change your profile to a snack!

You monster! I’m positive that this meme will catch on, it sounds way too real for the FB public to not use it.

[Inner_Stickler]

@dhkendall

You monster! I’m positive that this meme will catch on, it sounds way too real for the FB public to not use it.

I hope so! Jooooooin meeeeeee! You know you want to!

[Double_Foolscap]

A friend’s recent status update:

Hey everyone post a picture of your favorite album cover to help bring the dinosaurs back from extinction. Be sure to post this status update to make sure your friends can be fellow slacktivist. Join the fight!

My response:

WARNING: This campaign was actually started by Velociraptors to groom herbivores, as they are more likely to add someone if they have an album cover as their profile picture. Stegosauruses are crazy for Led Zeppelin.

[Zyada]

I saw that come through and had the same impression - yeah, that really helps, doesn’t it. Instead of changing my avatar, I posted the name of three child abuse prevention organizations. I can’t take credit for that, Strainger did it first.

However, whether because of the meme, or because enough people did what we did, there was some effect:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/childrenscharitiesbenefitfrommysteriousfacebooktrend

I was thinking about starting a meme to support same-sex marriage and prevent bullying of gay people:

“I’m changing my avatar to a picture of an openly gay person to say that I support the legalization of same-sex marriage, and to encourage our culture to accept that love shouldn’t be dictated by a chromosone”
Hmmm, needs work

What really amuses me about this is that if you don’t change your avatar… that means you’re openly gay, right?