Facebook cartoon profile pics: A hijacked meme

The latest Facebook meme-for-a-cause has people replacing their profile pictures with photos of their favorite cartoon characters, supposedly to boost awareness of violence against children. But where did it come from?



The most common form of the meme spreading on Facebook contains the following message, which has been reported at least since December 1: 



"Change your Facebook profile picture to a cartoon from your childhood and invite your friends to do the same. Until Monday (December 6), there should be no human faces on Facebook, but a stash of memories. This is for eliminating violence against children."



However, a cursory search reveals that there are no large-scale events or anniversaries related to violence against children within that time frame. Read More here...





However, still it did create a great deal of child abuse awareness, just like one of facebook user posted on the said fanpage:

This spread of awareness was not posted by the NSPCC or any campaign organization, however, it did create a great deal of Child Abuse awareness, granted.

Unfortunately, the internet is not the place to spread awareness as it has now turned viral in saying the "rumors" (if they actually are rumors or not, I don't care) have spread false notions and bad ideas to the ACTUAL pedophiles of the internet.



Having the article posted explaining the "rumor" wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It is also creating awareness for child abuse on the internet. So instead of bashing the people posting it, make it known how serious it is that there ARE child predators on the internet and not everyone has good intention. If you're going to let your kids have a facebook account it's important that they know not to add everyone.