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Snapchat is Weird and This Bob Marley Filter is Daft

Sometimes, I feel all old and cantankerous, because even as a digital strategist, I’ve resisted Snapchat for a while. I signed on early on and never really liked it. It was like Google Wave (remember that?) for me.

You get on Snapchat and post video or pics of moments in your day, and they disappear after 24 hours. I did a “Maintain a Good Online Reputation” workshop for high school students last week and I asked them what they love about the platform. They all agreed that they get to see behind-the-scenes of their friends and they love that it disappears and that everyone “keeps it real.”

Snapchat

Snapchat da realest, apparently

I get it, but meh. Many of my friends love Snapchat too. People who love Snapchat are really passionate about their love of Snapchat. They’re the Berners of social media. They try SO HARD to make Snapchat fetch happen, and you tell them “I’m sure Snapchat is cool, but it’s not for me.” And they’re all BUT WHY NOT?? SNAPCHAT IS WHERE I AM MOST MYSELF. YOU ARE MISSING OUT.

Bless.

The reason why I can’t get down with it is because everyone is boring as shit on there, even people who are interesting in real life. You know why? It’s because everyone thinks they now have their own reality TV show, and unfortunately, there are no editors. So we get to see their entire lives, including the mundane moments that I wish I could cut out and fast forward to the season finale already.

EVERYONE IS SO BORING ON THERE.

Bored boring gif

Why do I need to watch you walk to the bus stop? Yes, I’ve watched DJ Khaled’s Snaps. Him and his “keys” got old for me real quick. I have installed and deleted SnapChat from my phone 3 times. I have given it chances. Peer pressure keeps making me want to like it, because surely if it’s so dope, I’m missing out. RIGHT?

I keep seeing people posting pics of themselves with various Snapchat filters over their faces, because those are apparently really fun. Again: meh.

Anywho, I wake up today and see Bob Marley trending on Twitter. I click on his name and the first thing is an article about how Snapchat created a Bob Marley filter for 4/20.

Anytime fuckshit like this happens, I ALWAYS ask “where was the adult in the room?” In case you wanna know why it pays to have a Black person with sense on your startup’s team, see: Snapchat’s Bob Marley filter. That person needs to be in a leadership position too. They can’t just be the coffee fetcher.

Things have approval processes and systems and multiple eyes on them before they go out. It usually takes a team from inception to execution. Was there no one who pushed back against it to say “Hey guys. This might not go off well because it’s essentially Blackface?” Or was that person drowned out by those who were enthused that now the users of their platform could place a brown tint over their face, with locs and a rastafarian hat? Someone was all “NO. They’ll be too high too care, because it’s 4/20! LET’S DO IT!”

Bob Marley SnapChat filter

Why it happen, Lawd???

Electronic blackface is still blackface. And this filter is telling folks (who skew young) that they can do it as a gag for a day. You know all types of pale folks gon be doing this all jolly throughout the day because they have gotten permission. BOB MARLEY IS JAMAICAN AND HE LIKED TO SMOKE WEED SO WEAR HIS MASK FOR 4/20 DAY. Nah, son. As if all the man did was smoke weed. Disrespectful.

On Twitter, I was told by someone that the Marley Estate wanted this, and they made an ad buy to make it happen. Again, this is why I said a Black person WITH SENSE is needed. That piece is necessary. His estate seems to monetize his image by any means necessary, but still. I comes down to checks and balances. People see checks and balance gets busy. But that hasn’t been substantiated yet.

Ultimately, Snapchat thought this was the move to make, and they gotta get the whole hell outta here with that boolsheet. Out of gahtdamb order.

Fix it, Jesus. Amend it, Allah. Rebuke it, Rah.

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7 Comments

  1. April 20, 2016 at 11:08 am

    “It’s because everyone thinks they now have their own reality TV show, and unfortunately, there are no editors” This. is. the. truth. I like periscope, but if the user is dry the content is dry, no matter the platform.

    *shakes stick at snap chat*

  2. April 20, 2016 at 5:30 pm

    I too have downloaded and deleted this app from my phone tooo many times to count!!

    Each time i get sucked in by a snap chat fan and within a day ( 8 hour work day) it is deleted!!!

    Oh and please tell these teens – that nothing disappears from snap chat!!! folks can screen grab and video the feed and your foolishness will LIVE forever.

  3. April 21, 2016 at 12:23 am

    I have it here a warning comment.
    Do not eat it the Punjab Cricket. If eat it then a problem of a bad smell gas happen. One time my woman friend Smupa eat it the Punjab Cricket. She then have it the bad smell gas for 4.5 days. For this time she not want to have a fun time in the bed at the night. Not good my friend.

  4. S. P.
    April 21, 2016 at 5:10 am

    As a proud Jamaican, I was so saddened by that stupid Bob Marley filter. Is that what Snapchat believes is Marley’s legacy? I’m not on Snapchat because I don’t find it interesting and I don’t need to know every piece of my friends’ lives.

  5. S.
    April 21, 2016 at 12:47 pm

    I have the same problem with Snapchat. Not only are people boring, but I realised how boring *I* was. After the 7th selfie of myself, I was done. People post themselves making their, food, lip syncing, riding unicorns etc. Just go about your day, people. It’s cool. We don’t need to know what happens every second or hour.

    As for the Bob Marley filter, too much dumbness occurs these days for me to put any stake in adults. I think the combined common sense of entire world population is dwindling as the seconds go by. Probably thanks to social media. Sigh.

    Great post 😉

    • Eve Tey
      April 21, 2016 at 1:03 pm

      “riding unicorns”…bwahahaha!!!

  6. April 27, 2016 at 12:08 pm

    Wow you just made me look at this in a different light , I’ve been wondering why they put the Bob Marley face up there . It all makes sense now it was 4/20 and they are basically making assumptions that Jamaicans smoke a lot of weed and love to get high.