This year, everything about Love Island is set to be a little different. Including, the way in which contestants are being announced. Today, Love Island producers have started drip-feeding us information, posting contestants to their social media pages one by one.
Rather than the usual bulk of content we get about what their ‘type of paper’ is and how wandering their eye is, viewers will have to wait for the show to start next week before making any assumptions about their fan-favourites. And looking at a statement from Love Island, that seems purposeful.
‘These Islanders are all single and ready to find love. We can’t wait to watch them get to know each other, date and maybe even find the one,’ read a post on the Love Island Twitter feed last night. ‘We’re so grateful they’re letting us follow their journey this summer. We hope you enjoy the show, but please think before you post.’
It was a very pointed statement, notably because of the #BeKind movement that is heavily linked the Love Island following the deaths of Caroline Flack, Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis. Every year we see commentators posting about the importance of being kind online, and yet every year – even by those very same people – that sentiment only stretches so far as each contestant slowly becomes subject to vile online abuse.
It’s a worthy reminder on Love Island’s part – because while producers have come under fire for their part in protecting Islanders in the past, it goes to show that actually, it’s on all of us to create a safe, healthy environment online.
Producers have a show to make, there will always be villains cast and behaviour viewers don’t like. While we can take a view on that, debate the impact it has or what it says about society, our personal feelings about the way contestants are shown to us should never make way for abusive or offensive messages about them.
This year, with so many of us touch-starved, good-tv starved and still sitting in the house most of the summer, Love Island is set to be more popular than ever. That’s why this reminder from producers feels particularly pertinent because we’re all bound to get even more invested in the show this season.
So, while we enjoy checking out whose going to be our new summer crush from the cast, the message to ‘think before you post’ should be on all of our minds.
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