OgilvyOne has developed a viral video in collaboration with NGO KAFA (enough) Violence & Exploitation.The video aims to encourage people who witness violence against women to speak up, encouraging them to use #iwillspeakup hashtag to pledge their support through social media.
A large number of women in Lebanon are affected every year by domestic abuse. Yet discussing or reporting abuse is generally still taboo. Instead witnesses stay silent.
To challenge this, OgilvyOne collaborated with Banet Taxi, a women’s only taxi service in Lebanon. They created the viral video whilst giving the taxi customers an experience that was difficult to keep quiet about.
The video urges witnesses of domestic abuse to speak up and sufferers to report abuse by calling KAFA’s hotline.
This important initiative comes at a time when KAFA are continuing to suggest amendments to the new law protecting women and other family members from domestic violence. They aim to make the new law more effective, so that women in Lebanon can benefit from the approved law as much as possible.
Maya El Ammar, Communications Coordinator, KAFA Violence & Exploitation comments: “It’s easy to accuse others, including women the victims of violence, of not reporting it but we sometimes do not realise the seriousness of our silence. That’s why KAFA adopted this initiative and believes it is very effective in shedding light on this issue, urging people to intervene in such situations”.
This was done through a simple scene in a taxi, where women rarely feel safe because of the many incidents of harassment and infringement that happen in this space. What makes this initiative more unique is that it is carried out inside a taxi for women, which is supposed to be a safe place, but wasn’t because this time the driver herself was exposed to moral and verbal abuse by a machine that represents the aggressor. This initiative is also characterised by its spontaneous test of passengers, recording their real reactions. Mostly what it showed us is that the culture of intervention and support can overcome apathy and evasion.
