Cartoon profile pictures on Facebook to come down Monday
The Facebooking cartoon characters from the past few weeks are about to morph back into their original human selves.
Hordes of users recently switched out their profile photos for images of the Simpsons, Tom & Jerry, Woody the Woodpecker and Disney characters galore.
Some participants are just having fun. Each year, one crusade, which features a Cartoon Network image, encourages Facebook users to change their profile photo to an animated character during the fourth week of November.
But most users say they’re in it to raise awareness of child abuse.
One popular effort was started by “an unnamed volunteer,” according to the page for the Campaign To End Violence Against Children - Childhood Cartoon Faces.
The page links to the official site of the NSPCC children’s charity and also urges visitors to donate to organizations battling child abuse.
But rumors spread through the comments section that the whole thing was a hoax, a front by pedophiles to lure young Facebook users into accepting their friend requests.
Others, such as Facebook user Olissa Cultbertson, said such campaigns were inconsequential and ineffective.
“If you really want to stop child abuse, then act like it!” she posted. “Sitting on the computer telling people to change profile pics to a cartoon is not helping any. Why dont you go to a random street in New York and talk to people. Im sure there is plenty of people, not just children, who suffer to this day from their past.”
Either way, the issue may soon be null. According to one set of constantly reposted instructions, users will be reinstating their original profile photos Monday, when the cartoon flashback is set to end.
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-- Tiffany Hsu
Image: Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg (as himself) talks to Lisa Simpson and Nelson Muntz on "The Simpsons." Credit: Fox
