OT--Rainbows for Autism! Don't let the rainbow die...don't be blue!!!

[Guest guest]

Please forward!

Don't be blue...keep the rainbows:

I recently saw a Facebook post regarding Autism Speaks wanting people to wear

blue, change their Facebook profile picture to the Light It Up Blue logo, type

emails in blue, wear the Autism Speaks blue puzzle piece, and Bake puzzle piece

shaped cookies and frost them with blue icing, then bring them to your school,

work or place of worship during April (Autism Awareness Month), especially April

2 (World Autism Awareness Day*).

*NOTE: The logo for World Autism Awareness Day is multi-colored not just blue.

 

Hypothetically, this would be like the The Breast Cancer Society deciding they

want October to be The Breast Cancer Society month and telling people to wear

green ribbons instead of pink. It doesn't make sense. A lot of people spent a

lot of time, energy and money over the years getting autism awareness known as

rainbow colors. When I'm driving and see a rainbow ribbon on the back of a car,

I know what it is long before I'm close enough to read the words " Autism

Awareness " . This blue stuff undermines all that effort at branding....and

further divides the autism community.

 

There are lots of blue causes. However, only a few use causes prominently use

rainbow colors:

autism (typically a puzzle piece, but has various other forms {example a

butterfly}) and gay pride (usually a triangle or a flag but has various other

forms also) and Jesse Jackson's " Rainbow Coalition " . That said, I suspect autism

has achieved the broadest recognition in the overall population. Do we, the

autism community, really to undermine all the causes using blue by adding yet

another cause to blue, just to become a needle in hay stack...indistinguishable

from the others?

 

To be clear, this is not to disparage those who support Autism Speaks, since I

can not imagine that they want the autism community to have another issue to be

divided over nor have our branding diluted. This is about the blue idea being

poorly thought out. I haven't seen a marketing idea this bad since 1985 when

Cola Cola introduced " New Coke " ....and Pepsi was very happy.

 

I realize that some may find it distasteful to refer to autism awareness in

marketing terms, but the fact is any awareness campaign involves a great deal of

marketing strategy....and jumping into the sea of blue causes is seriously

flawed marketing. For longer than most (if not all) of us have been alive, the

color blue has been associated with sadness, hence someone saying they have " the

blues " ...while a rainbow is associated with unity, prosperity and hope...like

the song " Somewhere Over the Rainbow " .

 

Check out the lists that I've compile of blue causes.

Blue cause color for at least 22 causes (likely more):

Anti-Tobacco

Arthritis

Child Abuse Prevention

" Bring Home Our Troops " campaign

Colon Cancer

Crime Victim Rights

Domestic Violence

Drunk Driving,

Education

Electronic Frontier Foundation's Online Free Speech

Epstein-Barr Virus

Freedom of Speech

Hurricane Support

Hydranencephaly

International No Diet Day

Police Officers Lost in the Line of Duty

Prostate cancer

Reye's Syndrome

Sex trafficking and slavery awareness

Tuberous Sclerosis

Water Safety

 

Again I ask, do we, the autism community, really to undermine all the causes

using blue by adding yet another cause to blue, just to become a needle in hay

stack...indistinguishable from the others?

I implore you, please keep the rainbow alive!!! Don't drown us in the sea of

blue!!!

 

Please post/send rainbows, wear rainbows, make rainbow cookies, cakes, salads,

whatever...do it all with the rainbow in mind!!!

 

Please forward this to everyone that you know! Thank you for your time!

Peace be with you!---Nicole