Bliss and The Trevor Project Introduce PepTok Campaign

In the spirit of Mental Health Awareness Month, Bliss and The Trevor Project are teaming up to introduce PepTok, a TikTok campaign aimed toward starting an open dialogue about mental health to create more positive and affirming spaces on social media.

Recent studies have shown that social media is more negative than ever. Twitter released a new function last week meant to discourage harmful or offensive tweets and replies. When a Twitter user hits send on something that isn’t the kindest, they will receive a prompt, “Want to review this before Tweeting?” with the choices to send as is, edit it, or delete it.

According to an infographic made by Bliss and The Trevor Project for the campaign, one-fourth of Americans say a negative social media comment have ruined their day, and 60 percent of people using social media reported it impacted their self esteem in a negative way.

Ultimately, the campaign points to the LGBTQ community as a population already prone to higher rates of depression and anxiety, with negativity online as something that can work to exasperate those vulnerabilities in the community.

The campaign was launched May 7 with a TikTok Live by Hyram Yarbo (Skincare by Hyram), who facilitated a candid conversation about mental health and tactics to avoid cyberbullying.

The campaign is turning comment sections into donations. Bliss will donate $1 to the Trevor Project for every positive comment posted while tagging @bliss—up to $100,000.

“We know that LGBTQ youth who experience high levels of social support from family and friends are significantly less likely to attempt suicide compared to those with lower levels of social support—and social media is one area that can provide a strong foundation of support, so long as it’s positive,” says Shira Kogan, director of corporate development at The Trevor Project. “Every dollar from Bliss’ unique campaign will help support The Trevor Project’s free, 24/7 crisis services, as well as TrevorSpace, the world’s largest safe space social networking site for LGBTQ young people.”

Image by Joseph Murica from Pixabay