#Selfieless - Canon Encourages Less Selfies and More Good Deeds

Magic4Walls.com

Why do we feel more compelled to do good things during the Christmas period? The giving spirit? Strong religious undertones? Getting emotional after drinking too much mulled wine? Whatever the reason, many companies and ad agencies go full on post-spirits Scrooge during the Christmas season. Some have a genuine cause at heart, others are just promoting the brand.

So far this year, we've had a heartbreaking Alzheimer's awareness ad which depicted Santa Claus himself in the grip of dementia and a stunning piece by Unicef about the children in Syria. Weirdly, Canon have now thrown their hat into the ring with the Selfless campaign, which basically boils down to them declaring war on the selfie.

A pint of the red stuff is the most vital of donations – roll up your sleeves and be #selfieless today. pic.twitter.com/I1ENh7ND3m

— Canon UK (@CanonUKandIE) December 3, 2016

It makes sense; selfies aren't exactly prime territory if your company is invested in actual cameras. A Canon 550 is far more difficult to take a decent selfie on than an iPhone. Canon are taking this so much further than that though. Basically, the company are using Twitter to encourage people to do a good deed per day, document it photographically and then share it under the #Selfieless hashtag.

So, in essence, it's an advent calendar which replaces chocolate (or lego, or gin, or cheese) with a warm fuzzy feeling, and instead of a little door, you're opening your heart. Yucky gooey metaphors aside, it's a good idea, one which Canon are saying will inspire a generation "obsessed with self-expression".

It's extra chilly out today – so why not make your #selfieless act of the day a donation of warm clothes to a kids' charity. pic.twitter.com/NaQU2hv5Ct

— Canon UK (@CanonUKandIE) December 4, 2016

To set an example, Canon donated 1 million Euros to the Red Cross. They've posted a few things on Twitter to generate ideas, but really anything from giving money to volunteering to reaching out to someone falls beneath the banner of the campaign. It'll be interesting to look back on this after Christmas and see what people came up with.