Challenge accepted: Why you are seeing black and white photos on social media

In recent days you have probably come across numerous black and white photos on both Instagram and Facebook with the caption ‘challenge accepted’.

The ‘challenge’ has gone viral and basically, you just have to nominate a friend to participate and they can accept by posting an image of themselves that they like.

Using the caption ‘Challenge accepted’ and the hashtag #womensupportingwomen they can then tag others and the cycle continues.

Not that there has been an injustice to spark the trend but according to multiple sources, the challenge might have originated in Turkey where numerous cases of femicide were reported in recent months and black and white photos were used in newspapers to raise awareness.

The pictures that are currently being shared are meant to promote female empowerment and support for fellow women.

One Facebook user on Thursday raised an interesting question regarding the challenge and it got me thinking.

“Why don’t we use the same energy to support each other’s business?” she asked.

Ever since the first Covid-19 case was reported in Kenya, numerous people have lost their jobs and they have resorted to alternative ways of generating income.

Be it selling clothes, hawking fruits and vegetables from their vehicles (car-boot business) or even selling masks and sanitisers, Kenyans have strived to make ends meet despite the harsh economic times.

Others have taken to podcasts and YouTube channels, opening Facebook pages and inviting us to ‘like’ but more often than not we have scrolled past the notifications.

In my opinion, support for friends should include supporting their business and paying in good time.

In turn, they should also ensure that they sell quality products to you with utmost professionalism.

Uploading a picture with a hashtag on women empowerment is great but we can always do more.