Last year we were lucky enough to have a video of Lady Gaga's acceptance speech at the CFDA Awards hit the net. Aside from the fact that Gaga told that hilarious story about Anna Wintour, the video was significant for another reason as it marked the first time that we were given access to the goings on in the annual event but now, the exclusivity is a thing of the past.
Today WWD confirmed that the ceremony will follow in the footsteps of the Met Gala and will be available for all to see. While this year's event will not be live like the Gala, it will be broadcast on Style.com on June 5, the day after it takes place and will show inside the awards as well as on the red carpet. Tim Blanks has been brought on board to host the broadcast and will be interviewing guests on the red carpet too.
A week ago this image of Alexa Chung, which she posted on Instagram, helped keep the current debate about banning 'thinspo' on social networking channels alive. Tumblr was the first to ban the images on their platform and after receiving a lot of images on their platform as a result, Pinterest quickly followed suit leading the same thing to happen to Instagram. Not willing to appear like they are not taking a zero-tolerance approach too, Instagram release a statement in their community guidelines prohibiting the images:
Don't promote or glorify self-harm: While Instagram is a place where people can share their lives with others through photographs, any account found encouraging or urging users to embrace anorexia, bulimia, or other eating disorders; or to cut, harm themselves, or commit suicide will result in a disabled account without warning. We believe that communication regarding these behaviors in order to create awareness, come together for support and to facilitate recovery is important, but that Instagram is not the place for active promotion or glorification of self-harm.
Now hashtags like 'thingspo' and 'thinspiration' no longer yield search results.
Do you think Instagram's decision to follow the others will make any difference?
The fight against thinspiration images is the story that keeps on giving. When the content was first banned on Tumblr, all the banned images were moved to Pinterest and now the latter has followed Tumblr in cracking down on the images, naturally they have all moved to Instagram.
Instagram's guidelines do not explicitly allow the content but they definitely aren't tacking a firm approach like the other social media platforms have:
“Remember that our community is a diverse one, and that your photos are visible to people as young as 13 years old. While we respect the artistic integrity of photos, we have to keep our product and the photos within it in line with our App Store’s rating for nudity and mature content.”
The range of new social media platforms proves that the problem is hard to control. Firm bans on the content on one site simply drives the images to another one and so long as users continue to search for tags like 'thighgap' and 'hipbones', the content will always be there.
Last month when Tumblrannounced that they would crack down on thinspiration posts, the decision was met with a mixed response. While many praised the social networking platform for taking a strong stance, many were conscious of the fact that these posts were simply moving to pinterest to get around the ban.
Yesterday though, Pinterest decided to follow suit announcing that from April 6 they will ban ban content that 'creates a risk of harm, loss, physical or mental injury, emotional distress, death, disability, disfigurement, or physical or mental illness to yourself, to any other person, or to any animal.'
I had a quick search for 'thinspiration' on the platform this morning and was met with page after page of scary quotes and emaciated images but hopefully with the crack down, those images will disappear. The problem, as is often the case, is how both platforms will be able to police this. Facebook has been pretty good with this, especially when it comes to images with nudity so hopefully the other platforms will be able to follow suit and monitor these images to make sure that the ban actually results in a change.
Last week Tumblr announced a new content policy that is aimed at cracking down on Thinspiration websites. 'We are deeply committed to supporting and defending our users’ freedom of speech, but we do draw some limits,' the statement on the Tumblr staff blog reads. 'As a company, we’ve decided that some specific kinds of content aren’t welcome on Tumblr. For example, we prohibit spam and identity theft.'
But their decision to tackle the issue has been met with mixed results. Whilst many have praised the platform to taking such a strong step, bloggers that use these sites have been openly criticised the effect that this new policy will have. One argued that this will actually make sufferers feel more isolated and alone while another claimed that such sites are actually helpful because others often encourage sufferers to seek help.
You must have been living under a rock over the past two years if you're unfamiliar with the DKNY PR girl, the Twitter and Tumblr voice of the American brand. Her exclusive tweets and unedited personal voice quickly won her a legion of fans and copycat PR accounts from other leading brands. When it comes to brands utilising social media, along with Oscar PR girl, there doesn't get much better and if you haven't been charmed by her already, you definitely will do after watching this short video.
Since she started tweeting only those in the industry knew who she was but this week the company released a clip revealing her true identity. Say hello to Aliza Licht, SVP of Global Communications for Donna Karan, a self-confessed Twitter and Tumblr addict. The video builds on her Tumblr to-do-list showing the preparations of the mens presentation and recent DKNY and Donna Karan shows during New York Fashion Week, as well as her supervisory role at the brand.
