In a confronting opening keynote at Cannes in Cairns, award-winning filmmaker, best-selling author and Australian of the Year Taryn Brumfitt called on the creative industries to “Think deeper and harder about creative solutions and leave shame at the door.”
Brumfitt’s work as a body image advocate, crafting films such as Embrace and Embrace Kids to inspire normal people to change how they feel about themselves. Embrace was released in 2016 and was nominated for the Documentary Australia Foundation Award for Best Documentary.
After moderator Sunita Gloster AM drew comparisons with the historic advertising of tobacco products, Brumfitt said that the advertising and marketing industries simply have to perform better when it comes to perpetuating body image issues among adults and children alike.
“The challenge for everyone here is to take your clients on that journey. Think deeper and harder about creative solutions. Leave shame at the door. We don’t need to make people feel worse than they already do,” she told a packed Keynote arena.
“I don’t know about you but we have a finite amount of time and days on the planet to do really epic work. I know that when I hang my hat up, I want to reflect back on the work that I did, see that it’s helped people solve problems, that it hasn’t driven up the rates of eating disorders or other mental health issues. We get that choice.”
Brumfitt was joined on stage by Melinda Petrunoff, Pinterest’s country manager for Australia and New Zealand and the ever-inspiring Sunita Gloster AM as moderator. The panel discussion, titled “Body Image. The Scourge of The Next Generation. Whose Responsibility Is It?” focused heavily on the impact that social media has had on people’s perceptions of their own bodies.
Pinterest, aside from being the presenting partner of Cannes in Cairns, is not a traditional social media platform. Instead, as Petrunoff made clear, it is a space for positivity, where consumers can find sources of inspiration with a relentless push for positivity. And, rather than simply creating a nice space for consumers to exist online, Pinterest also provides a compelling proposition for brands to interact with their consumers – positivity pays.
“We’re opening the conference with this agenda because we see it as a crucial point in our industry and society. We really believe it is a health emergency… The data tells us that eight in 10 young people who use social media say that it makes them feel anxious and 65 per cent of young people have been exposed to content encouraging weight loss and body transformation,” explained Petrunoff.
“Last year, we did research with UC Berkeley and it showed that time spent in a positive environment, which can be 10-15 minutes on Pinterest, will make you feel better about yourself. What it also highlighted, particularly for Gen Z, is that it helps to combat the reality that they’re facing whether it is stress or burnout. We have the opportunity to change how we are creating content and to be very, very conscious of what we’re putting in front of young people.
“Everything [in the content and advertising sectors] is very short-term. If people are not empowered to be values-aligned, it is just not happening. The power is with clients. If values-driven briefs are not being given, it’s not going to happen. Yes, we need to challenge it, but the power sits with clients.”
Attendees after the session were left in no doubt that encouraging a more body-positive industry was not only in the interests of everyone’s bottom line but also the future happiness of our children.
Stay tuned to B&T for all the latest news from Cannes in Cairns.
