The Jubilee Project released this awesome PSA in conjunction with a company called iNatureSkinCare and it has turned into a viral sensation.
The look and feel is similar to that of Dove’s ‘Real Beauty Sketches’ video, which is the most watched piece of advertising on Youtube to date with over 4 million views and counting!
The Jubilee Project, started by three buddies Jason, Eddie and Eric, have built a company dedicated to videos about “doing good”. Their combined passion for philanthropy and filmmaking forced them to quit their day jobs (in business, medicine and government) in 2010 in the wake of the Haiti Earthquake because they believe the power of filmmaking can ignite good in every person.
“We believe that ordinary people can do extraordinary things, and that doing good is contagious,” it states on the website.
Their latest video is titled “Comfortable: 50 People. 1 Question” and it asks a group of men and women from diverse backgrounds what they would change about their bodies. Half the group are adults, the other half are children, and we are first bombarded with the responses from the adults.
They say things most of us already identify with; there are messages about changing facial features, stretch marks, eye shape, wrinkles, height, etc.
When we see the kids on screen being asked the same question, the mood is decidedly different. The majority of kids say they would give themselves super powers, animal features (sharks mouth for eating more, cheetah’s legs for running faster) and a couple of young girls even say “nothing!”
The difference between the body image standards of adults and children is startling, but certainly not surprising, with many reports suggesting low self esteem begins as young as 6 in some countries.
At the end of the video the participants, who are all real people, not actors, are asked one more question: when was the last time they felt comfortable.
“We wanted to make this film because these days its so easy to be insecure about our body and our appearance. We just wanted to make a film that encourages you to be comfortable and confident in your own skin,” say the filmmakers at the end of the Youtube video (below).
The movement wasn’t just designed to instill confidence or confront our deepest insecurities, it is also designed for us to share those out loud and make flaws and vulnerabilities something we don’t need to be scared of, because we are certainly not alone in them.
Jubilee Project is asking everyone to tweet and share what makes you comfortable in your skin by using the hashtag #iamcomfortablebecause.
These types of videos are a great way to spark conversations on line, and also make the issue easy to share when you have a unique and cute video like this. It is a formula that is becoming increasingly popular as we’ve seen with Dove, and other brands like Always, Pantene, and Under Armour who are choosing to market to people’s human nature, rather than benefit off insecurities.
The difference with the Jubilee Project crew is that they are not selling a product. Their videos are designed to ignite positive messages and movements in our culture, and tackle issues that plague our society in a unique way. Maybe going to see a therapist or admitting to a friend your deepest insecurities about your body is too scary for some, where are tweeting about it and seeing there are many others who feel the same (as evidenced by the video) can not only be easier, but very cathartic for our generation which basically lives online anyway.
We hope you feel comfortable in your skin, and that you can go through life not feeling crippled by insecurities. Let this video be a reminder you are beautiful no matter who you are, and feeling comfortable or beautiful should not be determined by what others say.
