Snapchat’s Bob Marley 4/20 Filter Is All Kinds of Wrong
Bob Marley was way more than his weed. (Photo: Getty Images)
So we’re guessing the folks at Snapchat were totally baked when they came up with their latest gimmick: a Bob Marley filter! Special for 420 day! Get it?
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Yeah, we don’t really either. Except in the way that most folks have, which is to say we are cringing over the instant-blackface effect of the image as well as the oddly reductive decision to use Marley — Jamaican reggae pioneer and superstar and ambassador of peace and Pan-Africanism (who did, yes, happen to believe in the legalization of ganja) — as the face of Stonerville.
Critics are responding with a resounding thumbs-down, calling the filter “racially insensitive,” “in extremely poor taste,” “effectively reducing Marley’s impact to a stereotype,” and “cultural appropriation,” with Esquire begging, “You should not use this today! Just don’t do it!”
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Twitter, predictably, has been flooded with outrage:
They so easily could’ve made that Bob Marley filter without black face and still get the point across. so ignorant
— Noodle Dad (@hotdad)
Black culture is more than mainstream hiphop. It’s more than twerking. It’s so complex and extensive. And Bob Marley is more than pot.
— レモネード (@melaninbarbie)
I’m tired of explaining that Jamaican culture, Rastafarian culture & Bob Marley himself are more than just a blunt & locks. It’s exhausting
— Kayla A. Greaves (@KaylaAGreaves)
There has been at least one hugely notable (if also predictable) exception, of course: Kylie Jenner, who hopped to it and slapped that blackface-and-dreadlocks right over her face. “420. Yaaas, bitch,” she exclaimed in her filter-enhanced video. “Yaaas.”
A video posted by Kylie Jenner Snapchats (@kylizzlesnapchats) on Apr 20, 2016 at 3:01am PDT
Snapchat, meanwhile, responded to the negative buzz by releasing the following statement to a couple of outlets: “The lens we launched today was created in partnership with the Bob Marley Estate and gives people a new way to share their appreciation for Bob Marley and his music. Millions of Snapchatters have enjoyed Bob Marley’s music, and we respect his life and achievements.”
Um, clearly.
