If you haven’t noticed already, you probably will soon: People all over Facebook are replacing their profile images with the faces of celebrities this week (like musician Daniel Cartier did with even more-famous musician, Michael Stipe, right.)
What’s the gimmick?
It’s Doppelganger Week! Not unlike the color status phenomenon that swept Facebook earlier this month, in which women changed their Facebook status to match the color of their bra, the doppelganger phenomenon appears to have started with some anonymous Facebooker sending a message to friends, asking them to exchange their profile photos with the photo of a celebrity they’ve been told that they look like. And then, of course, the important part: To pass it on.
The difference here? The bra-color updates were a subtle way for women to spread the word about breast-cancer awareness, and Doppelganger Week doesn’t appear to have any ties to a cause or awareness campaign whatsoever. It’s just a silly, fun, maybe-kinda-cool thing to do.
But what if we step it up a notch? What if we add some meaning of our own?
How about this: Instead of just changing your photo to a celebrity photo, take a moment to think about a cause that celebrity has supported or a charity that particular celebrity has endorsed, and add a link from your Facebook page to that cause or charity and encourage your friends to give or get involved.
Look like Matt Damon? Link to Water.org.
Look like Jessica Biel? Have your friends check out her recent Mt. Kilimanjaro climb for Summit on the Summit.
Dog-lover Katherine Heigl? Link up the ASPCA?
Look like Wyclef Jean? Link Yele Haiti, of course.
Play around with it. Do some searching right here on Tonic, or Google a bit for instant answers on celebrity charity endorsements. See what you come up with.
Instead of just having some fun online, you just might do a little good.
Cartier/Stipe photos courtesy Daniel Cartier
Biel photo via Flickr Creative Commons