Donate a Face: How a new campaign aims to use selfies to help acid attack survivors

In the last year or so, the humble selfie has suddenly become a phenomenon. Today, millions of selfies are shared every day across all social media platforms. According to data from Samsung, selfies make up almost one-third of all photos taken by people aged 18-24 years.

Now what if this intimate, indulgent act of clicking a selfie could do something for a greater cause? What if people could be induced to voluntarily take selfies and help acid attack survivors?

Acid attacks have been on the rise in India. An estimated 309 cases were reported in 2014 as opposed to 83 in 2013. Ironically, there was no separate statistic for acid violence cases in India till early 2013, because the criminal law in the country did not recognise it as a separate offence — Indian laws did not take into account the disfiguration of a woman in an acid attack as a separate crime.

To add to this, the government-sanctioned compensation of Rs 3 lakh was insufficient for the multiple rounds of surgery every survivor needs to undergo, often forcing the survivors to live in isolation, ostracized by the society.

"Donate a Face", a campaign against acid attack, created and executed by Cheil India, seeks to tackle this problem innovatively. The campaign involves giving up one’s face on social media to spread awareness about acid attack survivors, to collect funds for their facial reconstruction surgery. 

All one has to do is click a “faceless selfie” — that is write "donateaface.org" on a sheet of paper, cover one’s face with it and click a selfie. The mechanism of the selfie was a tool not only to get everyone involved in the awareness drive, but also to see the stark reality that there are women amongst us who shy away from this vain act - out of no fault of theirs.

Launched on April 10 by actor-activist Gul Panag, the campaign has seen support by Indian rock band Parikrama, national award winning singer Chinmayi Sripada, fashion designers Anupama Dayal and Mandira Wirk, and models like Kavita Kharayat, to name a few. 

The campaign is already seeing heartening signs of progress. Recently, the Supreme Court issued a directive that asks private hospital to treat acid attack victims free of cost.