About

The Dog Filter is a special effect featured in Snapchat which allows users to place a dog’s nose, ears and tongue over their faces when taking a selfie. The feature has been controversially dubbed the "hoe filter" due to the combined factors of its popular usage among young women and apparent promiscuity of the animated tongue in appearance.

Origin

In February 2016, Snapchat released a major update to the mobile application with a set of seven animated special effects for the selfie mode called "Lens," which included a "Dog Filter" that uses facial recognition software to place a canine nose and ears over an individual's face, as well as a tongue that droops down whenever the mouth is open.

Spread

On March 1st, 2016, the @MeninistTweet Twitter feed posted a tweet accusing women who use the dog Snapchat filter of being promiscuous (shown below, left). On March 9th, Redditor kittiestitties4ever posted an animated GIF of actress Eliza Dushku using the dog filter on Snapchat to /r/gifs^[6].

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On March 28th, 2016, YouTuber JustLikeThat uploaded a comedy sketch titled "How Girls Use Snapchat," in which she expresses her appreciation for the dog filter (shown below).

On April 9th, Urban Dictionary^[5] user sugary submitted an entry for "hoe filter," defining it as an alternative name for the Snapchat dog filter. On April 22nd, Vice published an article titled ''The Internet is Slut Shaming Women Over Snapchat Filters Now,"^[8] which criticized the use of the term "hoe filter" for being sexist. On April 27th, YouTuber Unoriginality uploaded a video titled "A Hoe's Favorite Snapchat Filter," in which a woman is accused of being a "whore" after her boyfriend walks in on her using the Snapchat filter (shown below).

On May 10th, Kim Kardashian posted a Snapchat story asking for a new Dalmatian-themed dog filter. Shortly after, Snapchat released an update that would place a Dalmation's ears and nose over the second person detected in a Snapchat with the dog filter enabled (shown below).

On May 13th, Vice published an interview with a psychiatrist titled "We Asked a Psychiatrist Why We’re So Obsessed with the Dog Filter."^[2] On May 18th, the women's interest blog Allure^[4] published an article titled "There's a Reason Why You Love the Dog Filter on Snapchat," which claimed the filter hides imperfections and elongates faces. On May 20th, a parody horror movie trailer starring Ariana Grande was broadcast on Jimmy Kimmel Live, in which she is cursed with wearing the dog filter in real life after using the Snapchat app (shown below). Within 72 hours, the sketch received upwards of 380,000 views and 240 comments on YouTube. On May 23rd, Snapchat disabled access to the filter to promote a new set of filters promoting the the film X-Men Apocalypse.^[7]

Search Interest

External References