HRC's Pink-On-Red Equals Sign Goes Viral For A Week. Success?

Last week, on Tuesday, 26th March, the Human Rights Campaign launched a social media campaign to rally support in favor of same-sex marriage as the U.S. Supreme Court began to debate its merits.

Original HRC Pink-On-Red Equals Sign Avatar

Across the social media spectrum, but most noticeably on Facebook, users were asked to change their avatar to the pink-on-red equals sign above. This is a tweak on the HRC's original blue-yellow logo.

Washington State

Immediately, this began to catch on. And also immediately, as more people changed their avatar in support of same-sex marriage, people began to customize their avatars (like the one shown above in the shape of Washington state).

Denim Patch

Within a day or so, this campaign had successfully gone viral. A post by Eytan Bakshy on behalf of the “Facebook Data Science Team” notes that on March 26, the number of changes to profile picture was markedly up, with 2.7 million, or 120%, more than the previous Tuesday.

Sesame Street's Bert & Ernie

But some questioned how successful the campaign was and suggested that people changing their avatar on Facebook (or on their other social media profiles such as Twitter etc) was completely useless.

Peanuts' Peppermint Patty and Marcie.

Some points made on this may be valid. But personally I feel the Supreme Court may be somewhat influenced by the global response the campaign achieved.

Lady Liberty and Lady Justice.

Some avatars crossed over into unexpected genres, characters and memes that normally wouldn't be linked to this issue.

Below is just a small selection of avatars people adopted during the campaign.

Bacon 01

Bacon 02

Batman

Black Flag logo

Bud Light cashes in.

Star Wars' C3PO & R2D2.

Divine.

Dog Bones.

Ermahgerd meme 01.

Ermahgerd meme 02.

Lord of the Rings' Frodo & Sam.

Game of Thrones.

Grumpy Cat meme.

Gamer control pad / Nintendo.

Futurama's Hypnotoad.

A couple of head avatars.

Doobies / Joints.

Lil' Bub.

Paula Deen.

Matzah (coinciding with Passover).

Pancakes.

Rothko.

Skateboards.

Dr Who's Tardis (x2).

Pokemon.

The Lion King.

True Blood.

Message to President Obama on corn (?).

And judging by the number of people now beginning to switch their avatar out to something else, the campaign is beginning to wane. The "avatar swap" part of the campaign lasted about a week. I just wonder what effect, if any, it will have on the Supreme Court ruling decision due out soon.

Lisa Lampanelli 50 - Westboro Baptist Church 0

The Queen of Mean - Comedienne Lisa Lampanelli

LISA LAMPANELLI RAISES $50K FOR GAY MEN'S HEALTH CHARITY IN THE NAME OF WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH

Following on from my previous blog post on guerrilla advertising and marketing, this is not totally advertising-related, but is definitely a creative solution to a festering problem.

Just today here in Savannah, the Westboro Baptist Church (link not provided on purpose) found it in their little, hate-filled hearts to go and protest at several churches for short half-hour bursts. This is just long enough to make their silly little point and sing a few songs before moving on.

Westboro Baptist Church, Topeka, Kansas.
Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

In case you aren't aware who this mob of raging homophobes are, they are the anti-semitic swaggle of extremists that border on the fringe of American society. Based in Topeka, Kansas, this group is a bible-thumping, hate-preaching mob that pickets funerals of American soldiers who have died in service overseas as well as a host of other inappropriate targets.

Today's picketing and subsequent anti-protest / "love sit in" by Savannah locals went on without a hitch (as far as I heard).

Westboro Protestors outside Lampanelli's Show
Courtesy: Lisa Lampanelli, 2011

Earlier this week, the WBC chose to protest outside one of comedienne Lisa Lampanelli's shows in Topeka, Kansas. Despite being on their turf, the "Queen of Mean" took the WBC right up on their challenge that they would be picketing outside her show. This is because she is an outspoken supporter of gay rights.

Lampanelli issued a statement prior to the event that for every protester outside - from the little girl holding up a "God Hates Fags" sign to the old man leaning on his "America Is Doomed" board, she would donate $1,000 to a gay charity.

In total, she counted 48 picketeers and decided to donate a rounded-up sum of $50,000 to the Gay Men's Health Crisis. This charity is the nation's oldest HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care services provider. The GMHC reacted to Lampanelli's gesture with the message:

“We are grateful for Lisa Lampanelli’s kindness and courage to fight homophobia… She is holding up a mirror to bigotry and hatred, and reflecting back love and generosity.”

While expensive and only available to certain celebrities and others who can afford it, the move directly challenges WBC picketers to attend protests for their bile-inducing reasons. Under this scenario, the more of them that show up, the more money is donated to a cause directly in conflict with their outdated beliefs.

Lampanelli has said she will be sending the WBC a "thank you" letter for their "generous contributions" and that,

"I'd love to see their inbred faces when they open those thank you notes! Hopefully their jaws will drop so fast that their three remaining teeth and cro-magnon foreheads will plummet to the floor."

Members of the WBC will be back in Savannah later this week to picket outside several local schools, Jewish Community Centers and Temples.