Challenge Accepted: Celebrities Posting Black And White Selfies on Instagram Heat up the Campaign

Instagram is once again flooded by black and white photos of people joining the "Challenge Accepted" and "WomenSupportingWomen" campaign to show their appreciation for other women who inspire and support each other.

Women are posting black and white selfies to show appreciation for other women using the hashtags #ChallengeAccepted and #WomenSupportingWomen.

Celebrities, businesswomen, politicians, and regular people post their black and white selfies with affirmations about the importance of inspiring other women. It is a way for women to show their support of each other and celebrate themselves using the hashtag #WomenSupportingWomen. In return, they are also nominating other women to do the same on their own Instagram accounts.

There were nearly 4 million photos posted with #ChallengeAccepted hashtag while #WomenSupportingWomen has been used in almost 7 million posts.

Supermodel Cindy Crawford joined the challenge as she was nominated by Vanessa Bryant. She posted a black and white of her while walking along a beach. "Love this simple way to lift each other. #challengeaccepted," Crawford said on her Instagram post.

According to a New York Times, an Instagram spokeswoman said on Monday, July 27, that the trend is still picking up as the use of the hashtag on Instagram has doubled over the weekend. "We're seeing that most of the participants are posting with notes relating to strength and support for their communities," the spokeswoman said.

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How did the 'Challenge Accepted' campaign start?

While the challenge has now been overly popular on Instagram, it has also spilled over to Facebook as a similar challenge emerged. But how did it begin?

According to an Instagram representative, the earliest post they tracked using any of the two hashtags was posted by the Brazilian journalist Ana Paula Padrão on July 18. The post simply features Padrão's selfie with the hashtag #womensupportingwomen.

However, public relations and influencer marketing manager for Later, social media marketing firm, Cristine Abram said the challenge may have sparked from a video of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez against Representative Ted Yoho's sexist remarks against her on the floor of Congress last week.

Abram said it has to do with female empowerment and the #WomenSupportingWomen hashtag has already raised awareness around other large issues. "Tapping into that allowed participants to gain traction a lot faster because the algorithm was already familiar with the hashtag,"Abram said.

Who accepted the challenge?

A great diversity of women has participated in the campaign. AS Tech Times scoured Instagram, it is remarkably filled with black and white photos of activists, actresses, scientists, CEOs, directors, gamers, coders, and more other regular women who share their love for those women who inspire them.

Aside from Crawford, celebrities like Felicia Day, Halle Berry, Demi Lovato, Jeri Ryan, Ava DuVernay, Jennifer Garner, Kerry Washington, Eva Longoria, Jamie Chung, Kristen Bell, Jessica Alba, Taraji P. Henson, Amber Midthunder, Marlee Matlin, among many other have shared photos to help the campaign reach more people. "Challenge Accepted.

Meanwhile, actress Felicia Day advised women to "be confident no matter how much makeup you have on. You rock exactly the way you look!"

Not all are supportive

The "challenge accepted" campaign aims to promote female empowerment using their photos, and by nominating friends to join the campaign, it encourages women to support each other.

However, not everyone agrees the campaign is the best way to encourage women to address the current challenges or celebrate their accomplishments.

Ali Segel told New York Times that it would make more sense "if the 'movement' featured trans women or female businesses and their accomplishments. "I just hate that women want to feel empowered and the first thing they think of is selfies," Segel tweeted

Similarly, Natalia Buia, a writer and digital producer, criticized the challenge on Twitter. "I don't get this new 'challenge' either; wouldn't it be more appropriate to instead post work we have recently enjoyed that was created by other women? Books, docs, magazine articles, beauty products, apps, charities, etc.," she said on her tweet.

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