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Creepy Custom Fake Smile Face Masks Go Viral
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Creepy custom fake smile face masks go viral [news.com.au]:
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As travel companies and countries around the world finally decide to make facial coverings in public mandatory, many feel anxious that surgical masks erode their individuality.
Fortunately one artist-turned-accidental-entrepreneur has come up with a solution to social hygiene for protection during the coronavirus [news.com.au] crisis that is as idiosyncratic as you are.
Unsurprisingly these custom ‘Face ID Masks’ began as a practical joke. With surgical masks printed to order from selfie photos, the company began taking orders for their “Resting Risk Face” masks last month.
I woke up this morning to learn that the Today Show aired my Maskalike face masks (without a heads up). Then NBC news. Then it spread through the internet for the 4th time. I got several emails per minute. Now I have 25,100 people on the waitlist and 1,225 unanswered emails.🤯 https://t.co/yQWN9a46C9 [t.co]pic.twitter.com/3NubjtQ4xt [t.co]
— Danielle Baskin (@djbaskin) June 28, 2020 [twitter.com]
Users submit photos of themselves and the company makes facial coverings to match features and skin tone – with the pledge to make the wearer “more easily recognisable during viral pandemics”.
The result is uncanny. Apparently the coverings are convincing enough to “unlock devices” using facial recognition.
For artist Danielle Baskin the project started “just for fun”.
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The maker from San Francisco describes herself as a maker of “viral art, companies and delightfully weird events”.
However her latest enterprise has turned out to be as multifaceted as she is. The website has also been used to create masks using celebrity mugshots and even the face of a fragmented 2000-year-old sculpture from the Met Galley collections.
Since launching the website in June she’s received over 25000 orders.
“The lesson I keep learning: if you work on companies just for fun outside your companies, those also turn into companies,” she said.
Since her masks found viral fame Baskin says she’s recognised everywhere. (Well, she can hardly hide.) The Face ID masks have earned appearances on US television, including NBC and the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
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Part of the proceeds have been donated to the TGI Justice Project which is a California-based project for transgender, gender variant and intersex justice.
It seems to have been the perfect time to launch the project. Since March, 120 countries have introduced laws encouraging people to wear face coverings in public.
RELATED: Aussies ‘let down’ over mask advice [news.com.au]
As of this week it is now a legal requirement for people in the UK to wear masks on public transport and in shops. Four days ago US President Donald Trump wore a mask [news.com.au] during a public appearance, after initial vocal opposition to wearing face masks.
It seems that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed not only laws but peoples’ attitudes have changed towards face masks.
This article originally appeared on the New Zealand Herald [nzherald.co.nz] and has been republished with permission
