What if our selfies were unselfish?

Saturday, November 16, 2013

What if our selfies were unselfish?

This morning, friends of mine in the Philippines working for the Omnicom agency BBDO Guererro in Manila, invited me to participate in a remarkable initiative called the #unselfie campaign. As you know, the country has recently been rocked by Haiyan, the strongest ever typhoon to hit land, which has killed some 2,700 people, affected 9.6 million, and caused over $15 billion worth of property damage.
As a result, social networks in the Philippines have become indispensible sources of information and aid for Haiyan survivors. Photos not relevant to the current disaster are discouraged. However, people have been posting “unselfies” where instead of showing their face, they show their support for the Philippines by holding up a piece of paper with the URL of the donation page to send aid. I did it and it took me a minute.
Indeed, the #unselfie movement has been gaining force among a variety of events like #GivingTuesday and other charitable causes. Even though Vogue magazine declared us to be living in “the age of the selfie”, and the term has entered into the OED, most selfies are associated with web 2.0 navel gazing. The #unselfie campaign is a simple way to remind people in your network that even our selfies can sometimes be selfless!