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Finalists of Miss Singapore Beauty Pageant are reportedly seeking psychological help after being derided by netizens for not being "pretty enough".
An Instagram photo of the 16 contestants, also shared on the contest's official Facebook page, was posted on July 12. The unofficial photograph went viral, but not for the reasons the finalists had wished for.
Social media users criticized them for being "ugly" and unworthy of participating in a beauty contest.
One participant's face was described as having been run over by a car. Some went as far as expressing concern that the family photo may damage Singapore's national image on the global stage.
Three weeks of sulfurous comments and mockery apparently had their toll on the candidates, as Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao reported on Monday that some participants have been undergoing psychological counseling.
The report said candidates were deeply shaken by the online campaign against them, with some even anxious to go out in public. Some have become too sensitive and started behaving in an irrational way such as expressing worry that they are being stalked when they see smartphones directed at them.
“The one whose face was described as being hit by a van did not show up for training classes at three different occasions,” fellow contestant Zheng Shuhui told Lianhe Zaobao.
“Comments really hurt us".
The marketing manager of the event's organizer, ERM Singapore, Zheng Xiujuan told the media outlet that the firm has dispatched therapists to help them.
“Some are still very young, so negative comments depress them,” said Zheng.
A spokesperson for ERM Group noted that the pageant seeks to change people's rigid beauty standards, noting that they want to show that anyone can be beautiful and everyone is eligible to be Miss Singapore.
But the official statement was criticized by Chinese netizens on China's Twitter-like Weibo.
“Beauty competitions are made to find good looking people. If that's not the case, then what's the point of these pageants?" asked @Mengmengdetianqi.
“If you take one’s manners more importantly than their looks, maybe you should change the competition from Miss Singapore to responsible citizens of Singapore,” said @Zibaowang.
(CGTN)
