Australia – Milk formula brand in Australia and New Zealand, Karicare Toddler, has partnered with Anne Geddes, the Australian photographer dubbed ‘the original baby-photo influencer’, to launch a new campaign that aims to address the pressure that Australian parents feel to be picture-perfect.
Developed in partnership with advertising agency CHEP Network, the new campaign sees Geddes reimagine her iconic photography style to support parents by demonstrating that real parenting moments are just as perfect as the stylised version people see on social media. Instead of imagery of perfectly calm and peaceful children that was behind her rise to fame, the campaign showcases children at their messy, honest, and chaotic best – throwing tantrums, ‘rearranging’ the set, and more – all against Geddes’ iconic, ethereal style.
Titled ‘Feed the Real’, the campaign is also supported by research that found that almost 96% of Australian parents believe there is pressure on them to be perfect, with social media proving to be a key contributor to that pressure, with more than 78% believing social platforms contribute to the pressure they feel, while 61% often feel bad after seeing ‘perfect’ images of other families on social media.
Commenting on the purpose of the campaign, Geddes said that her journey as a baby photographer began before the rapid growth of social media and the ubiquitous sharing of their lives online, and nowadays, she sees new parents comparing themselves to the overly perfect and Insta-friendly images and videos that appear in social media.
She added, “This creates an unhealthy pressure on parents. It almost makes it competitive, and I don’t think that’s right. I’ve created images with Karicare Toddler that aren’t the typical Anne Geddes perfect, but in another way, they’re perfect as well! We have captured the real moments we all know, which are just as beautiful. I hope this campaign starts an important movement where we all start to portray a more realistic view of parenting.”
Meanwhile, Ximena Ramirez-Arango, Karicare Toddler’s head of marketing, noted that parenting is hard and it’s clear that social media is adding to the pressure parents feel, but parenting is also amazing and rewarding, so at Karicare Toddler, they want to celebrate real parenting with both its highs and lows and help ease some of the pressure that parents are experiencing.
“The #KaricareToddlerFeedTheReal movement is all about supporting and encouraging parents to see the messy, chaotic reality of parenting as just as perfect as the filtered version we see online. We want all parents across the country to feel comfortable sharing those real moments, and to change what we see in our social media feeds,” said Ramirez-Arango.
Justin Ruben, CHEP Network’s executive creative director, commented that this has been a wonderful opportunity to work with the Karicare Toddler team and an icon like Anne Geddes to help change the way parents think about what they see on social media and how they can make a positive change by simply embracing all the crazy and wonderful moments that parenting brings, rather than worrying about having to present a picture of perfection.
“If we make a small change to how we present our experience of parenting on these platforms and instead, celebrate the real as being perfect too, we can make a positive impact on parents across the country,” said Ruben.
The campaign imagery and content will roll out across digital, social, OOH, influencers, and PR, in addition to a film featuring Anne on-set that talks about the perfection that they can and should see in the real parenting moments they all experience each day.
