Using modelling and beauty pageants for climate change advocacy

MODELLING and beauty pageants have their own myths, doubts and stereotypes in many developing countries, but have evolved over the years.

As communicative and representation tools, modelling and beauty pageants are now being viewed with sustainability lenses hence their integrated roles in climate advocacy. Modelling and beauty pageants are forms of art that have defied odds, gathered momentum and have become the fastest growing concerns not only in Zimbabwe but the developing world.

Climate change as the number one enemy and cancer of the environment of all time, requires crosscutting, collaborative and multisectoral efforts to fight it. This is why the country is warming up to the growth of modelling and beauty pageants in schools, colleges, universities, industries and commerce.

In general, a beauty pageant is a competition traditionally focused on judging and ranking contestants’ physical attributes while fashion modelling is viewed as recruiting models to pose for artistic photo-shoots, adorning clothing and accessories during runway shows.

These two communities of practice can be integrated with climate change to become essential tools for its communication, advocacy, networking and awareness raising. These two discourse communities now form part of the dream pursued by many, young and old, while getting the attention they deserve.

Like any other entity, modelling and beauty pageants are skills based, requiring innovation, creativity and all other forms of art that can be integrated effectively in communicating climate solutions and telling the climate story through transformed narratives. The integration of climate change with beauty pageants and modelling has added a new dimension and impetus to the value of addressing the climate question holistically.

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Modelling and beauty pageants integrated with climate change have emerged as the fastest growing forms of popular culture. This enables the children and youths to create spaces for creative self-awareness and expression, confidence building and climate information value chains. Building resilience through modelling and beauty pageants is key and transformative and resonates well with the children and youths’ infinite tastes for fashion, deportment and trending. 

Climate change has prompted everyone into action, requiring coordinated attention like music, art, theatre, politics, modelling and religion, all contributing to popular culture.

Popular culture can be viewed as referring to mainstream cultural elements of the people’s lives at any given point in time. Popular culture also extends to fashion consumption tastes, choices, personalities and patterns, including celebrities, influencers and opinion makers, among others.  In short, modelling and beauty pageants are striking, appealing and inclusive forms of art.

Furthermore, climate change, modelling and beauty pageants as transformative forms of art and popular culture, have permeated the social fabric, public and social media spaces thereby bridging climate information and knowledge gaps. In this regard, communication experts, educators and fashion designers make use of popular forms of communication such as fashion shows, music, modelling and beauty pageants, photography and media to disseminate information on climate change.

The right of children to participate in decisions related to climate change issues need to be enhanced. Due to the vulnerable status of children against climate change, they need to be made a core part of community-based initiatives.

Whatever role the children play in the communities that they live; should be a child-centred approach anchored on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Putting children at the heart of conservation activities such as modelling and beauty pageants.

In the thick of things and sufficiently trending is up-and-coming Kwekwe-based owner of Anne’s Modelling Agency Anna Banda who will be hosting the Miss and Mr Climate Change Beauty Pageants in September 2024. Asked about how best she will use Beauty pageants to fight climate change, Banda said: “I look forward to fight climate change using modelling and beauty pageants through education and awareness-raising to enable informed decision making, an element of play as an essential role in increasing climate change adaptation and mitigation capacities of communities and empower them to adopt sustainable lifestyles.

For instance, in fashion and modelling, we are encouraging a culture of recycling, waste recovery, innovation and not throwing litter everywhere … I also encourage greening of our land, just to mention a few.”

True to her word, integration of climate change with modelling and beauty pageants while spreading it to small towns is meant to establish nationwide green heroes, with vital voices, thriving in green spaces and building confidence through participatory approaches. This is important in communicating climate successes and action strategies, transformative enough to implement and localise sustainable development goals (SDGs). This includes SDGs 5 [gender equality] to empower all women and girls, SDG 10 [reduced inequalities], SDG16 [inclusive societies] for promoting peaceful and inclusive societies and SDG13 [climate action], a goal involving the fight against climate change impacts.

Asked on the reason to showcase both boys and girls, (Mr and Miss Climate Change) since in most cases, modelling is associated with the girl child, Banda said: “I am opening an opportunity for both boys and girls. I am involving boys because they are sometimes left out by other programmes. As a teacher I am trying to treat all the children the same…”

The aspect of inclusivity brings joy to both boys and girls, appreciation of one another in trust and respect, valuing each other’s presence as equal in the eyes of society.

Above all, this is the pageant to look forward to, as the beauty pageant is a form of art, it will indeed enable fashion designers, climate change experts, advocates, social scientists, communicators and educators to be under one roof and reconnect with the environment.