People have been turning their cameras away from themselves to focus on others as part of a social initiative that has seen thousands rallying across social media to post an image of their selfless act using #selfieless.

Kick-started by Canon Europe with a 1-million-euro donation to the Red Cross - a charity that has a long-standing heritage of giving back through selfless acts - #selfieless has seen people across the EMEA region, taking part in the initiative which was also carried in the Middle East by Canon Middle East, the representative office for Canon in the Middle East and a leader in imaging products and solutions.

Employees of Canon Middle East, including its business entities Emirates,and Qatar joined together and showcased their full support for this initiative. Joining our team were aso the fans and social media influencers Lowi Sahi, Hindash, Salma Abu Deif who also came together to carry out their own selfless acts.

In a world where we snap an average of 93 million selfies a day, the #selfieless movement is all about the importance and spirit of selflessness during the festive season, an occasion when we should all be giving back.

Anurag Agrawal, Managing Director, Canon Middle East, said, “It’s really great to see this level of community support from our team especially during the festive season. To positively touch people and be a constructive contributor are things of great importance. This is also a huge part of Canon`s corporate philosophy of ‘Kyosei,’ meaning living and working together for the common good, which has been a key focus for us in the past and will continue to be an integral part of our corporate goals moving forward.”

Lowi Sahi added: "Challenge is the main energy that leads you to innovation. It is that same energy that Canon has been using to create tools for us to tell our stories. It feels good to be part of that. My short movie "Places" is about how I started my YouTube channel, it shows the power of turning a negative vision into a success story."

Salma Abu Deif concluded: "It means a lot to work with Canon especially that I love photography, and the idea of the challenge #selfless is great. It encourages the idea that people should think less about themselves and more about other people. I was a mass communication student so I used to use canon for most of the time while shooting my projects and it means a lot to me since it is also a social media campaign so it helps raise awareness on the idea of doing good to other people."

Canon Middle East has been constantly active in CSR initiatives, which included an annual blood donation drive, organised last year under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, Humanitarian & Scientific Foundation in association with the Sharjah Blood Transfusion & Research Centre. The collection was sent to hospitals across the Emirates, where over 200 lives were able to benefit from this initiative.

To get involved in the new initiative, choose an act of kindness, take a photo (not a selfie), post it on social media using #selfieless and nominate three friends to do the same.

Examples of #selfieless deeds include:

· Paying for a stranger’s lunch

· Giving blood

· Carrying the shopping bags for an elderly person

· Babysitting for free for a friend or family member to give them a night off

· Visiting your local care home and chatting to the residents

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