Dove Fights Back Against Toxic Social Media Content

https://www.fastcompany.com/90746539/dove-deepfakes-moms-to-illustrate-the-impact-of-toxic-influencers-on-teens

For many young girls, their self-esteem is heavily influenced by their mothers.  And most mothers do their best to protect and build that self-esteem so that their daughters grow into young women who have a healthy confidence about themselves.  Unfortunately, many young girls are now giving more of  their attention to social media rather than trusted adults, and that can be detrimental to their overall well-being.  In order to prove that point, Dove, which is owned by Unilever, produced a short film called, “Toxic Influence.”  In the video, mothers and daughters discuss their social media habits and the content they follow.  For some moms, they had no idea what their daughters had seen or heard from some of the influencers they follow.  But then Dove gives a great twist to the duos.  While the mothers and daughters talk, the filmmakers for Dove create deep fakes of the mothers giving horriific beauty advice to their daughters.  And this is where the film takes a sharp turn.  One mom is seen telling her daughter to skip breakfast and lunch to flatten her tummy.  Another mom tells her daughter to file her crooked  teeth down with a nail file.  The deep fakes are so good that you can’t believe any mother would actually say such ridiculous things to anyone she loves. And by the reactions of the mothers, they can’t either.  The purpose is to clearly show the potential dangerous effects social media has on our youth because, as we all know, not everything you hear and see on the internet is true.   Thankfully, Dove doesn’t stop there.  As part of their #DetoxYourFeed campaign, they are also teaching adults how to talk to the younger generation about self-esteem  issues by providing workbooks and educational videos on this topic.  Now they are going even a step further.  On May 12, Dove is hosting a free live stream event to help equip parents in their fight against toxic social media content.  If you have young people in your sphere of influence, this would definitely be something worth checking out.