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Child abuse charities report increased donations, support after Facebook cartoon movement

Stoop Kid, Rugrats, Doug and Mickey Mouse took over Facebook this week as part of a viral campaign asking users to change their profile picture to that of their favorite cartoon character in order to fight child abuse.

Starting Dec. 1, the Facebook group titled “Change your profile picture to a cartoon character campaign” urged users not only to change their profile picture and post a status, but to donate to organizations against child abuse.

The group’s Facebook message read, “Change your Facebook picture to a cartoon from your childhood. The goal is not to see a human face on Facebook until Monday (Dec 6th). Join the fight against child abuse & copy and paste to your status!”

Currently, the group boasts  more than 95,000 supporters.

While no national organization has claimed responsibility for the campaign, The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in the UK, as well as other organizations, have supported its efforts.

“A warm welcome to all our cartoon friends! We are incredibly grateful for your support to end cruelty to children in the UK,” the NSPCC said in a tweet. “Although the NSPCC did not originate the childhood cartoon Facebook campaign, we welcome the attention it has brought to the work we do.”

Despite the failure of similar viral Facebook campaigns, the NSPCC has gained 50,000 more followers since the campaign started, according to the NSPCC website.

Similar spikes in awareness have been seen with other organizations as well.

The Society Against Child Abuse cause on Facebook has donated more than $68,000 to Prevent Child Abuse America since the campaign started, according to their page.

However, when rumors spread on Sunday that the movement was really a pedophile front to narrow down which users are children, according to The Daily Mail, many Facebook users switched their profile pictures back to photos.

“As soon as I heard that the campaign was started by pedophiles I changed my profile picture back,” said Cara Cacioppo, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman.

“Otherwise, it’s a fun and effortless way to spread awareness about child abuse,” she said.

While Facebook later exposed the rumor to be false, many users are still wary of the significance of the campaign.

“I don’t think that it helped at all,” said Karissa Kow, a freshman in the College of General Studies. “I feel like if people cared about ‘preventing child abuse’ or ‘raising awareness’ they would donate to a shelter that houses these abused kids.”

“Or even, pay more attention to their own kids, if they have any, instead of focusing on being on Facebook,” she said.

While the campaign’s effect on raising awareness of child abuse has not been proven, many organizations are commending its efforts.

“Movements happen just like this, something small gets sparked, it makes us want to be part of something larger than ourselves, and it leads us to learn more and take action,” a spokesman from Prevent Child Abuse America said in a post on their blog.

“Maybe this effort can be the start of a movement too it’s possible isn’t it, it is, and that would something, wouldn’t it?”

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