IF YOU’VE BEEN CONFUSED by the spate of naughty Facebook status updates in recent days, where women have been updating their status indicating where they ‘like it’, you shouldn’t fear that the world is having more fun than you.

Instead, you’ve been hoodwinked by a guerilla online marketing campaign as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The barrage of status updates – with dozens of women posting such messages every few seconds – refers to the place where women like to keep their handbags, and is part of an underhand tactic to unite women into becoming aware of the condition.

A similar campaign – unwittingly perpetrated by many women last year, who thought it was innocent flirtatious fun – saw women post cryptic updates with colours – a reference to the colour of the bra they were wearing.

Both ideas were designed to isolate men from the real meaning of the updates, and show female solidarity over the condition that affects up to 2,500 new Irish victims every year, according to Breast Cancer Ireland.

The campaigns have proven the wide-ranging effect of social media campaigns, though they also highlight how such impromptu awareness campaigns can slip away from the genuine intention and become more flirtatious fun.