Don't let anyone fool you — the lack of representation of people of color in media is still a problem.
But while it takes a lot of money to produce and distribute TV shows and films that help increase diversity, it only takes five seconds to make a GIF — and those looped files have a bigger impact than you might think.
To that end, GIPHY is doing its part to make a diverse array of GIFs available for any occasion.
In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage (AAPIH) Month, the company has rolled out an entire channel filled with original GIFs to flood your timelines for the month of May and beyond.
The series is similar to the Black History Month work that GIPHY commissioned and produced in February, but this is even more ambitious, because it involves original GIFs that tell personal stories.
For one section of its AAPIH Month channel called "I Am," GIPHY studios invited Korean, Japanese, Indonesian, Indian (Gujarati and Bengali), Chinese, Filipino, and Vietnamese people to speak about their experiences growing up and encountering racism.
The GIFs in "I Am" show snapshots of a wide range of stories, with captions flitting across the image. Unlike reaction GIFs, these have a specific context attached to them, but still manage to create powerful statements through personal narratives.
That doesn't mean there isn't room for classic reaction GIFs. In fact, the channel is still full of them, curated under the Asian American History Month tag. There's a whole host of "thank you," "bye," and "dayum" GIFS at your fingertips — and even "Asian pride" declarations.
But perhaps the most impressive part of GIPHY's AAPIH Month series is the wide array of original GIFs that honor historical figures.
California senator Kamala Harris, Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi, and the first Asian American in space, Ellison Onizuka, are just a few of the incredible people represented through original illustrations, created by Asian American and Pacific Islander artists.
Beyond people, the channel spotlights diverse cuisines, various illustrations by Asian American and Pacific Islander artists of everything from fruit to cassette tapes, and important moments in history that influenced culture.
While these GIFs were curated in time for celebrating AAPIH Month, there are plenty of reasons to use them year-round. Get to GIF-ing, folks!
Topics Social Good
