Fun video of beauty pageant finalists slammed by keyboard warriors

Keyboard warriors targeted finalists of a local beauty pageant after an Instagram reel in the style of the This Or That trend was shared recently in hopes of showing the light side of pageantry.

Miss Grand Singapore, organised by AO Ventures, posted a video featuring its 14 finalists on April 29. It has since garnered about 400,000 views.

Unfortunately, the majority of the netizens who chose to comment on the video had cruel criticisms of the contestants.

One wrote: "Totally CMI (cannot make it). There are so many pretty ones and only these ones participate."

Another asked if there were "no minimum standards" for this pageant.

Others criticised the organiser for not ensuring the girls were "presentable" before recording the video.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by AO Ventures Pte Ltd (@aoventuresasia)

According to AO Venture's pageant national director Adeline Hokulani, the This Or That video was just something spontaneous and fun.

“Our intention was just to have fun with each other,” she explained.

“It was early in the morning and their first training in which we introduced everyone to each other.

“Even though there were comments that none of them were wearing make-up, a number of the girls did have make-up on. Perhaps the camera and studio lighting made it look like they were not wearing any.”

If it were up to Ms Hokulani, she would have preferred to have the women turn up for training fully made up and dressed appropriately but acknowledged that most of the finalists are new to pageantry.

TNP also spoke to Miss Grand Singapore 2023 Jade Wu, who shared that she was shocked at how bad some of the comments on the video were.

“It’s not uncommon but this was another level,” said the 25-year-old.

“When people are being nasty, it usually comes from a place of jealousy and maybe they’re not doing very well in life right now, so they need to release that somewhere.

“Keyboard warriors choose to do that online.”

Ms Wu also shared from experience that a lot of negativity is associated with pageants in Singapore. More often than not, participants are met with criticism instead of support.

“Their general understanding of pageants stops at participants wearing nice things, high heels and heavy make-up to just look pretty and glamorous on stage,” she said.

“The entire journey holds so much more than just how you look and that stage moment. It’s how you perform on stage, speaking and acting like a queen, sharing your kindness with others and truly advocating for your messages.”

Ms Hokulani added that pageantry goes beyond appearance and is about providing a platform for contestants to learn and grow as individuals.

“We teach them communication skills, make-up and deportment, and give them industry knowledge for this purpose,” she said.

“By the end of their journey, we hope they become more confident, more outspoken and have a better understanding of themselves.

“We want them to be resilient, even in the face of adversity like this.”

Some positivity did come out of the whole saga. Ms Hokulani shared that some women reached out to her asking if they could join pageantry classes to boost their confidence after watching the video and told her they figured they "weren’t that bad".

“It’s unfortunate that our video was taken negatively, but everyone who has joined a pageant has faced criticism about their looks,” said Ms Houlani.

“Everyone has a different idea of beauty. 

“If there were only one look and criterion for beauty, then there is no point to pageants. Just go ahead and crown the girl who fits the look.”