The Dress: A Bruised Black And Blue
The Salvation Army has place a morbid twist on the famed (or infamous) dress.
In case simply reading the words “the dress” or seeing the tag #TheDress does not instantly conjure up the newly-formed meme, suffice it to say that the ambiguously-colored wedding dress has caused quite the stir on the internet over the past couple of days.
Such internet chaos affected nearly every facet of the world wide web.
Haha That Was A Lie. #blueandblack #TheDress pic.twitter.com/eHMYof0y7C
— Anas Shah (@KingSha9) March 2, 2015
Such chaos was so rampant that even Ellen DeGeneres felt it necessary to weigh in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9WPUO6Xe8k
Despite how an individual feels about the controversy surrounding this now-famous dress, one must admit that the whole shindig has been ultimately nothing more than a harmless waste of time. This may no longer be true, however.
On March 6, the Salvation Army released the following image on its Twitter account.
Why is it so hard to see black and blue? One in 6 women are victims of abuse.#StopAbuseAgainstWomen pic.twitter.com/FgDdKdsMMb
— TheSalvationArmySA (@SASalvationArmy) March 6, 2015
Clearly, the Salvation Army meant to send a pointed message with its brutal take on a now popular meme. If at first the depraved subtly of the above tweet is not clear, perhaps a quick reminder of the heart of the internet controversy is in order.
The whole debate surrounding #TheDress revolved around whether or not the dress was black and blue or gold and white. Many people thought the dress to be gold and white, and many others felt the dress to be black and blue. Such disagreements have filled the comments sections of many a social media platform over the past several weeks.
Now, with its tweet, the Salvation Army is using the popularized color debate to comment on the deplorable manner in which many instances of domestic abuse are handled. Most instances of domestic abuse go unreported. For obvious reasons, it is almost impossible to gather accurate statistics on just how many instances of domestic abuse are reported, but a plethora of organizations have all reached this same conclusion.
As noted in its tweet, it is the unreported nature of domestic abuse that the Salvation Army is attempting to draw attention to via the attached image. The prevalence and fully saturated nature of social media have pushed memes like #TheDress to the top of many trending boards. It is safe to say that the Salvation Army hopes to now use that same platform to place the issue of domestic abuse on the forefront of everyone’s mind and maybe make it a little less difficult to see black and blue before it’s too late.
[Featured Image credit to Adweek, Body Image credit to WPVI-TV]
