Please Don’t Call Yourself Ugly: Twitter And Dove Launch #SpeakBeautiful Campaign

If you’ve been following the Oscars this year, chances are you’ve already seen this video:

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cncxoJPwBw

In an attempt to counter the tidal wave of negative tweets about beauty and body image, Dove and Twitter have teamed up to launch the #SpeakBeautiful campaign. This initiative to boost women’s self-esteem kicked off during the Academy Awards pre-show, but will be ongoing all year round.

What happens is this: when a Twitter tool detects negative keywords in tweets, such as ‘ugly’ or ‘worthless’, Dove’s self-esteem experts will reply with positive messages and advice. In addition, #SpeakBeautiful encourages women to post things they love about themselves and others, in hopes of creating a domino effect of empowering conversations on social media.

And judging by Twitter and Dove research, #SpeakBeautiful seems all too necessary. More than 5 million negative tweets about body image – whether in criticism of self or others – were posted in 2014, and women are currently 50% more likely to put down than compliment themselves  on social media. Then there’s the data that Dove tweeted live during the Oscars:

Those stats give you a general idea of the malice going around on social media. While this is definitely not to say that they form the majority of Oscar-related tweets – according to Nielsen, 13 million US Twitter users alone checked out the show – that’s rather a lot of revulsion at a gathering of some of the most beautiful, talented people in the world.

There’re the customary critiques of outfits and fashion…

https://twitter.com/blisswithin/status/569854345165930498

…which naturally get more and more personal.

https://twitter.com/ohrebeca/status/569721908813549568

https://twitter.com/huppert77/status/569733606970519552

These are the more printable (and marginally creative) ones.

So it’s sweet that amidst a whole lot of negativity, Dove and Twitter are trying to raise awareness of the huge impact our online words can leave, and the importance of viewing both ourselves and others with kindness and optimism. Scrolling through all the #speakbeautiful tweets, I’m reminded of how storied and unique we all are; there is no way that we can’t find at least one thing to love about ourselves, and the people around us.

Here’re some of the best feel-good tweets that their self-esteem experts and the Twitter community have posted so far:

And finally, my personal favourite:

To further restore your faith in humanity, do check out the @Dove Twitter page. If you’ve been inspired by the #SpeakBeautiful campaign, you can also support it by tweeting things that you love about yourself, your friends, and all the wonderful people in your life.

Let’s make social media a more beautiful place.