In this week’s Our Take, the ‘typos’ demand that big tech becomes more inclusive, commuters get immersed in a refugee campaign, a vegetable goes viral, and boomers are still beautiful, according to Dove.
Spellcheck, Check Thyself
Across the English-speaking world, many non-Western names are routinely mangled by autocorrect. While this might reflect a broader (and far bigger) problem in society, the “I Am not A Typo” campaign is calling on tech giants to stop inadvertently ‘othering’ people with Indian, Irish, Welsh, African and Asian names.
The UK campaign wants to give autocorrect a much-needed diversity check that would better reflect a modern and multicultural world, suggesting that spellchecking software could add the annual list of popular baby names from the Office for National Statistics into their dictionaries. It would be a start.
The “I Am Not A Typo” isn’t going to eradicate racism from the world, but if more of us are recognised and supported by the technology we use every day…well, it’s a start.
An Immersive Message
You might not love your commute, but at least you don’t feel like you’re taking your life into your hands. A campaign in the UK, however, is bringing a sense of real peril to commuters, reminding them of the dangers that refugees face in their journey to safety.
The Unsafest Journeys campaign by Refugease has taken over the London Underground leaving travellers breathless, and probably a touch queasy, with a digital ad on the escalators in tube stations.
As the unsuspecting commuters descend the escalator, they are surrounded by a sea that becomes more and more violent, with dark waves becoming higher, and choppier, and immersing them – almost literally – in the experience of refugees, who are risking their lives to get to safety.
It’s disorienting for sure, but it has a long-lasting impact and really packs in the punch of the campaign, which is timed to coincide with the anniversary of a record 1,295 attempted Channel crossings in one day.
With more focus now than ever on the refugee crisis, we have to hand it to Refugease for this one, which we won’t be forgetting anytime soon.
viral vegetables
We all know that TikTok trends can cause products to sell out, but we did not expect this would apply to something as common as … Cucumbers! But the vegetable has gone viral to such an extent that farmers in Iceland are worried that they won’t be able to keep up with demand.
It’s all due TikToker Logan Moffitt, aka the “the cucumber guy”. Not only does he create at least one cucumber salad a week, he has inspired so many imitators and followers that there are now 289 million TikToks related to ‘Guy eating cucumber’.
Want to try the salad for yourself? Grab some cucumbers if you can, and learn from the master here.
Dove’s big idea is getting old
Image: Dove
Does beauty have to have a sell-by date? Dove is attempting to prove that age is just a number, with their latest ad campaign, “Beauty Never Gets Old”.
Dove is once again shining a spotlight on real women, this time women in their 60s and beyond, who have been using Dove for decades, and whose confidence, grace and beauty shines through in every frame.
“Beauty Never Gets Old,” is a powerful message that needs to be heard loud and clear. It’s a reminder that beauty comes in all shapes, sizes, and ages. And, most importantly, it’s a celebration of aging gracefully.