By Anna Zapesochini, SVP, Product Management, Open Web Demand Solutions, Brand Suitability & Classification; and Gilit Saporta, VP, Product Management, Fraud & Quality
Dangerous social media trends are hardly new. (Remember the hot pepper challenge?) But DV’s brand suitability team wants to make advertisers aware of “bonesmashing,” a trend targeted to teenage boys that can lead to permanent physical disfigurement or even death. Campaigns without DV protections may be supporting this content.
“Bonesmashing” Is Just What It Sounds Like
The phenomenon is part of a broader movement called “looksmaxxing,” which in recent years has emerged from the darker corners of the manosphere into the mainstream via social videos. Looksmaxxing influencers claim that enhancing one’s physical features is the key to male success, and they engage in behaviors from dieting, exercise and elaborate grooming regimens to more extreme efforts, including self-harm and drug abuse, to achieve it.
That’s where the dangerous practice of bonesmashing comes in. Repeatedly tapping the bones in one’s face with a hammer or other blunt object increases bone mass, the theory goes, supposedly leading to a more chiseled look. Not surprisingly, medical professionals emphatically denounce this behavior: It can lead to bone fractures, facial paralysis and traumatic brain injury. The blunt force could also fatally tear a major artery.
The Risk to Brands and Advertisers
Looksmaxxing and bonesmashing videos can and do feature real influencers, although increasingly, these videos are AI-generated. Whether human or synthetic, the content can promote physical self-harm or drug abuse, damaging the reputation of brands that advertise next to it.
How DV Helps Fight Back
DV protects brands and budgets by identifying unsuitable and low-quality content before it can undermine campaign performance. On social channels, our DV Authentic AdVantage™ solution includes brand suitability controls that accurately isolate content depicting violence and self-harm.
DV’s classifications are powered by Agentic Content Intelligence via DV Neura™, the cognitive engine embedded across DV’s products and solutions. By analyzing audio, video, text and image signals, Agentic Content Intelligence delivers the precise, scalable classifications needed to identify unsuitable content.
As bad actors continue experimenting with new ways to turn lurid viral content into revenue, DV remains committed to identifying harmful uses of AI and to ensuring your media spend supports suitable, responsible and human-made environments.
Next Steps
Activate Death & Injury as an Unsuitable Content Category at your preferred risk level.
Contact a DV representative.
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