Senior Mollie Thompson Launches Empowering Campaign
“I want this to be an empowering movement.”–Mollie Thompson
As can be seen through online platforms, hashtag campaigns can be powerful and serve as a serious driving force for increasing awareness for particular topics. Senior Mass Communications major and Delta Phi Epsilon Vice President of Public Relations, Mollie Thompson, created her own campaign called #ThisIsMe. The week long campaign was held Feb. 18-21 by Delta Phi Epsilon and coincided with Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD) Week, one of their philanthropies.
Thompson first launched the campaign last year within her own Greek organization and expanded it this year to include all Greek organizations on campus. “I came up with the idea by trying to think of a way to use our social media for that week in a powerful way. I wanted to do something that would grab our follower’s attention, but also empower women in the sorority I am in,” she stated. Thompson was inspired by campaigns such as Dear World (https://www.facebook.com/dearworld/) and Dove’s “The Real Beauty” campaign, but tracing the origins of the campaign back even further, one will find that it all blossomed out of her own personal struggle in high school with purging and body dysmorphia. “I did not know I had an eating disorder until I joined my sorority Delta Phi Epsilon where I was exposed to eating disorders and information about them,” she stated.
Throughout the week, her sorority held different events for ANAD awareness, one of which encouraged individuals to share what they felt #insecure about or #empowered by. “Last year, I focused on having people share something they were insecure about, but this year, I wanted to have the campaign be more of an empowering movement and have people share something that makes them feel either empowered or insecure,” she commented. Thompson also said that the campaign initially focused on women, but she wanted it to be more inclusive so she widened her reach to include men, as issues like these affect them also.
“We had a really good turn out and I was pleased to involve so many others. Last year the campaign was just within our sorority, this year it expanded to include all Greek organizations on campus, and next year, I hope to get the entire campus involved” (Mollie Thompson).
Pictures from the campaign were shared on Delta Phi Epsilon’s Instagram account (@dphie_siue) and can be viewed here.
Filed Under: Human Interest