Have you ever gone on social media and seen the mass of purple-tinted profile pictures (PFP) that flooded the platform? Purple PFPs started as a movement in Nov. 2025, primarily in South Africa, to protest and raise awareness about the high rates of femicide and gender-based violence. However, lately, it’s become more of a performative change for both influencers and the general public.
The nucleus of the problem is that by changing the color of one’s PFP, someone can feel like they’ve done their part in spreading awareness about the issue at large. For example, popular songwriter and music artists DJ Zinhle and Bonang Matheba changed their PFPs in silence. There was no money donated or even a tribute to the large scale marginalization women in South Africa were facing. There was no awareness, no video and no repost that followed their actions: it was simply a quick change that was forgotten soon after. Purple PFPs themselves don’t do anything against femicide, it’s what comes after: the activism and the passion for change. When influencers don’t speak up about the problem, it sets a low-achieving precedent for other social media users.
While the purple PFP is a nice thought, if the person isn’t actually passionate about changing the way our world behaves, the act is completely useless. Changing a profile picture does not create tangible change and trivializes a serious issue in our society today. It’s hard to look at a slightly purple-tinted profile picture and think that we need to change our world. Actual activism, protests and petitions are completely different from an internet trend that faded in a month.
In addition, participants in the movement have been accused of bashing or shaming those who chose not to change their profile picture, even if those individuals were raising awareness in other ways. Especially in the comment sections of popular videos, multiple comments can be seen derisively talking about the people who don’t have purple PFPs. This created the opposite effect the original movement intended: it was meant to be a way to spread awareness and activism, not accuse others of not hopping on the trend. This is a huge issue: people will not take femicide seriously if the general public believes the problem is just a trend.
Not only that, but in response to the purple PFP trend, some men launched a “green PFP” movement, which was criticized by purple PFP participants as a way to mock the protest or divert attention to men’s struggles during a campaign specifically focused on femicide.
Despite its original intent, the purple PFP movement has far escaped the boundaries of activism and instead turned into an easy-to-follow trend on multiple media platforms. By prioritizing trends over advocacy and allowing the movement to devolve, the actual purpose was lost, turning a social crisis into a purple tint. In the future, if influencers and media users want to promote a change, resorting to petitions, videos, and engaging content would be beneficial in raising awareness instead of a quick profile picture.