The week in hashtags: #NoMorePage3, #SAGAwards, #SmearForSmear, #UKIPFilmTitles

The stars came out, The Sun went down, and a whole lot of other things happened on the internet this week…

#NoMorePage3

It’s been a big week for boobs, in every sense. When rumours starting circulating on Monday that The Sun’s Page 3 had finally printed its last bare breast, there were cheers in many quarters – not least the No More Page 3 campaign led by Lucy-Ann Holmes, which has protested tirelessly against the 44-year-old tabloid ‘institution’ for the past two and a half years. Social media exploded in a whirlwind of celebration, argument and opinion, writing a million thinkpieces and musing on whether publishing a model in lingerie rather than topless was actually much progress at all.

And then, after two days, The Sun added ‘epic trolling’ to its list of notable, er, achievements by bringing Page 3 back to life again. While many people screamed into a pillow/Twitter to vent their frustration and outrage, @NoMorePage3 calmly picked up their tools and went right back to the fight – thanking The Sun for all the extra publicity it had given them in the process.

We’ve not seen the last of this one.

 

#SmearForSmear

The latest in what admittedly feels like an endless line of charity hashtag stunts, #SmearForSmear is asking women to post selfies of them with smeared lipstick to raise awareness of cervical cancer and the importance of going for smear tests. It’s especially aimed at young women, with figures showing that smear test attendance for those aged 25-29 is considerably lower than any other group – and overall, the number of women showing up for their smears is actually falling.

‘We hope the public get fully behind this fun and simple campaign. The more women who take this life-saving five minute test, the fewer who will face infertility, early menopause, more extensive long-term effects and potentially even loss of life,’ said Robert Music, Chief Executive of Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, who kicked off the hashtag. And if reaching out to young women is the aim, there’s really no better place to be than social media. Expect to see #SmearForSmear on a feed near you soon.

 

#LoveYourCurls and #RealStrength

The latest in its mission to fix all our bodily in securities one ad campaign at a time, Dove has released Love Your Curls, a video response to the fact that ‘only 4 out of 10 curly haired girls think their hair is “beautiful”.’  Using #LoveYourCurls and #CurlPower to encourage girls to embrace their natural hair type, corkscrew-headed women across the world are being asked to share their inspiring, curl-positive stories and photos – as well as buy some Dove products, presumably.

Meanwhile #RealStrength has been revealed as the company’s tag for its big Super Bowl TV slot in February. The advert for Dove Men+Care is a recycled version of its Father’s Day commercial, chosen to ‘celebrate the multidimensional aspects of masculinity that define what it means to be a man today,’ according to the brand’s director of marketing, Jennifer Bremner. The new slogan is ‘Care makes a man stronger’, accompanied by a call for followers to share their #RealStrength stories on social media. Here’s hoping that doesn’t just result in a thousand muscular gym selfies.


 
 
#SAGAwards

Read the hashtag quickly and you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a ceremony celebrating holidays for the over-50s – but the SAG Awards are actually another fixture of Hollywood awards season, this time awarded just to actors, voted for by other actors. And the awards are called ‘actors’. So basically, it’s about actors.

Among the highlights of last night’s ceremony were: Orange is the New Black scooping two awards, including Outstanding Performance By A Female Actor In A Comedy for Uzo Aduba, Eddie Redmayne dedicating his acceptance speech for The Theory of Everything to all those living with ALS (Motor Neurone Disease), and several stars including Julianne Moore, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston refusing to let E! film their nails with its mini ‘mani cam’.  Looks like the spirit of the #AskHerMore campaign is still alive and well.

 

#YesWeTan

A refreshing reminder than occasionally men in public life get critiqued on their outfits too (occasionally), Barack Obama’s senior advisor pranked the world by posting a photo of a tan suit on Twitter and Instagram before the president’s State of the Union address on Tuesday – with the pithy hashtag #YesWeTan.

A nod to Twitter’s freak out over Obama’s beige suit at a press conference back in August, the Instagram was revealed to be nothing but a massive lol-fest when the president appeared to give his speech in a navy blue suit after all. #WhitehouseBantz

(If you want to know what was actually in the State of the Union address, you’ll have to find that out on your own.)

 

#UKIPFilmTitles

With the news the UKIP would stop 5 million foreign citizens using the NHS if they came to power (including Nigel Farage’s own German wife?) and MEP Amjad Bashir announcing he’s defected from UKIP to the Conservatives, this seemed like as good a weekend as any for a hashtag game. 

#UKIPfilmtitles was quite a lot like most UKIP news stories – laughable; fairly predictable; got boring very quickly. Here are a few of the best.  

 

Nigel Farage BBC news gif

Main image: Tom Woodward’s Flickr

Lauren Bravo