PIXERF challenges the industry to reveal the power of a smile to applaud frontliners and essential workers

They say a smile is the shortest distance between two people and in these tough times of social distancing, it has never been more poignant.

With the #WearASmile social media campaign, PIXERF, the global visual community and marketplace, puts a positive spin on the current Covid-19 crisis and pays tribute to the frontliners and essential workers working tirelessly round the clock, every day.

The campaign challenges photographers, illustrators and everyone who’s working from home to hatch ideas that reveal the power of a smile and post their images and videos on their social media feeds.

Behind the sombre masks worn by family and friends, neighbours and strangers, frontliners and back line support is the spirit of resilience and creativity when their everyday lives, as they know it, have changed beyond imagination. The campaign simply titled #WearASmile invites everyone to spread the message of cheer through creativity by sharing an image of themselves with a mask on, a creative doodle, or an illustration of a smile or quirky expression on it on social media. They are encouraged to write messages of love, encouragement and praise to the frontliners and essential workers in their community.

#WearASmile is part of the “Stay Home, Stay Creative” campaign. We created these challenges to motivate creators who are stuck at home to continue to practise and hone their craft during this lull period,” explains Sa’ad Hussein, CMO of PIXERF.

Working with PIXERF ambassadors, Lau How Chung and Nadirah Zakariya, both professional photographers based in China and Malaysia respectively, this initiative will be an open call to all creators across the region to create, share and challenge their peers. PIXERF also worked with Bolt KL, who helped make the campaign launch a reality by assisting in the animation of the videos.

“The face mask is a powerful symbol of conscientiousness, reassurance and solidarity as we battle the pandemic. By encouraging people to create shareable photos and videos with the face mask, we hope to spread cheer and rally the community to increase awareness of wearing masks to protect themselves. This is critical as we enter a new phase of virus defence,” says Sa’at Ismail, CEO of PIXERF.

“Everyone wants to do something about Covid-19. Few of us have the means to produce hospital-grade PPEs or the medical know how to save a life. But all of us have an infinite resource we can always count on: the creative urge that gets stronger in times of crisis. So here’s what you can do: unleash your creative imagination to put a smile on someone’s face. Wear your mask, snap a picture, and give your creative spin of a smile with doodles, embroidery, paint, and anything else your brilliant mind can come up with. Then post it on Instagram with the hashtag #wearasmile. Consider this a heartfelt salute to the frontline heroes and essential workers who are working their hardest for us. The best part? You can do this while social distancing. So get your smile on. #WearASmile”

#WearASmile is the first of four initiatives under PIXERF’s “Stay Home, Stay Creative” campaign to be launched recently. While this first initiative, which shines the light on mask-wearing frontliners and essential workers, invites everyone to unleash their creativity, the subsequent three initiatives are designed for creative communities, which have been devastated as work dries up with the spread of Covid-19. PIXERF will launch these initiatives with small prizes to help spread messages of hope and to encourage creators to keep the spark alive and to keep creating content during this period.

“The other three initiatives are aimed at visual creators, who have been hit hard. We are encouraging them to #StayHomeStayCreative, to continue to produce content, and to use upload and continue to sell, even while at home. The bigger message here is to not give up, and that even in these extreme circumstances, there is still a need for creative, authentic and relevant content,” said Ismail.