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Challenge NOT accepted. I wrote about how the black and white selfie challenge is basically meaningless and doesn't accomplish anything aside from self promotion https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/style/challenge-accepted-instagram.html
Black-and-white selfies have been leveraged in support of various vague causes over the years, ultimately having no measurable impact on any of them. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/style/challenge-accepted-instagram.html
Back in 2016, black-and-white photos with the hashtag #ChallengeAccepted were meant to spread a message of “cancer awareness.” Over the years the photo trend has also been used to “spread positivity" (whatever that means!) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/style/challenge-accepted-instagram.html
The challenge has circulated like chain mail ever since, ebbing and flowing as the "cause" associated with it shifts. It's latest resurgence began a week and a half ago with a post by the Brazilian journalist Ana Paula Padrão https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/style/challenge-accepted-instagram.html
The challenge has spread in Brazil and India, but it really began to take hold in the past week after AOC's viral speech abt the sexist comments she endured. IG users began to share more messages of female empowerment and the #ChallengeAccepted hashtag took off w/ the new meaning
Seeing people claim the black and white challenge originated w/ Turkish women seeking to raise awareness for femicide after the murder of Pınar Gültekin. This is not accurate. The challenge has been around since 2016 in various forms. That is just one recent manifestation of it
Even in the recent manifestation of the black and white challenge in Turkey, the more noble intent was stripped very quickly and the challenge devolved back to its meaningless roots https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/style/challenge-accepted-instagram.html
I noted the challenge's history in my piece, but if anyone has a good rundown from a Turkish reporter of how this old challenge reemerged and spread in their country lmk I'd love to highlight and share it https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/style/challenge-accepted-instagram.html
Got more info directly from Instagram who dug into this for me. They investigated the origin of the #ChallenegeAccepted hashtags in Turkish/Turkey. "While we found b&w posts relating to women's rights, it doesn't appear related to the more recent #ChallenegeAccepted resurgence"
As I wrote, the #ChallengeAccepted black and white photo thing has been around since 2016. It's been associated with increasing "awareness" around many causes, including "cancer awareness." This latest iteration is just as hollow as the previous ones https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/style/challenge-accepted-instagram.html
