#TheDress

Expecting it to be some kind of spoof, I glanced my eyes over the latest social media phenomenon ‘The Dress’, blaring out of my screen in all its cream and gold glory. “What a joke” I said to my co-worker at our lunch time Daily Mail session, “I know” she replied “Whoever can’t see that dress is blue and black is clearly colour blind”….Hang on…And so began the fairly hysterical debate over whom in fact had been living naïve of the fact they were colour blind their whole life.

Similar conversations could be found in abundance across social media just hours after 21 year old Caitlin McNeil posted the controversial photo to her Tumblr. The usual crowd of celebrities took to Twitter to get involved, with Bieber, Kanye and Taylor Swift heading up Team Blue and Kim Kardashian and Anna Kendrick repping for Team Cream.

But why exactly is there such a difference in opinion about the colour of the dress? Apparently for this specific image it is all down to context. Those who see a cream and gold dress have made a split-second decision that the photo shows the dress in poor lighting, and so decide the dress is cream and gold but in shadow. Those who see blue and black have made the decision that the dress is in bright light, and so there’s no need to compensate for the colours on display.

With reactive content more important than ever, brands leapt onto Twitter to jump on the back of the trending hashtag. From Disney to Paddy Power the semi-witty tweets came out and everyone had a chuckle. But one campaign really stood out, turning the light-natured concept of the dress into a much more serious message, and in turn really resonating with the hordes of people who engaged with it.

The South African arm of The Salvation Army tweeted a harrowing photo of a woman wearing the dress in question with the headline “Why is it so hard to see black and blue? The only illusion is if you think it was her choice. One in 6 women are victims of abuse. Stop abuse against women.” It’s refreshing to see such an effective example of hijacking celebrity culture, especially when it is for such a worthy cause. Not only was the concept of the piece powerful, but the juxtaposing of emotions you feel between the original ‘dress’ image and this one really enforce the trivial way many of us live our lives in comparison to the horrors some others endure. The Salvation Army found a way to cut through inane internet chat about a dress to force people into much more important conversations which are normally forgotten by those who they do not affect.

The post #TheDress appeared first on VCCP.