TAKING A STAND AGAINST HARASSMENT

L’Oréal Paris Canada and Right To Be have been long-time partners in the Stand Up initiative, a global training program that aims to combat street harassment. The program empowers individuals to safely intervene when they witness street harassment. However, despite Canada being ranked as one of the safest countries in the world (US News), the national sexual assault rate reached its highest level in 26 years in August 2022 (CBC).

CREATING INTERVENTION

Our mission was to convert passive bystanders into active bystanders by getting Canadians to first take action, and then get trained to safely intervene, against street harassment.

EMPOWERING THE CROWD

The objective was to first get one person to take a stand, so others would follow suit, and then ultimately equip 15,000 Canadians with anti-harassment training.

ASKING FOR IT

We created a campaign that provoked polite Canadian bystanders to follow their moral compass and stand up to street harassment by confronting them with unignorable victim-blaming rhetoric, intended to enrage and spur them into action. The key component was the installation of OOH posters in major Canadian cities that made the choice clear: ignore this issue or tear this poster down. If removed, the posters revealed new messaging underneath that encouraged bystanders to further act on their outrage by clicking through to the anti-street harassment online training.

The campaign was amplified through paid OOH, social channels, and influencer partnerships.

AN ALARMING STATISTIC

80% of Canadian women have experienced street harassment. But 94% of the time, no one interviews. Canadians over-index for being polite and nonconfrontational, meaning when they see harassment, they ignore it.

A PROVOCATIVE APPROACH

We recognized that to break through Canadians politeness we had to be provocative and get their attention to get them to act. The only thing worse than street harassment is the toxic narrative that surrounds it, so we used victim blaming rhetoric to make Canadians take notice.

RIPPING INTO ACTION

Our initial call to action was simple and direct - “Tear this poster down if you disagree”, giving Canadians a clear choice. When ripped down, they revealed new posters underneath that stated, “If you can’t stand street harassment, why not stand up against it?”, provoking bystanders to question their behaviour and encourage them to take the online anti-harassment training via a QR code.

DIRECT CONFRONTATION

We put Canadians face-to-face with the rhetoric they say they disagree with to see if they would stand up against it in a safe setting.

HITTING THE STREETS

We ensured our message was present where harassment takes place, prioritizing high-harassment zones like placements near/in gyms, restaurants, bars, campus, clubs, public transit. We adjusted our headlines to fit the locations and targeted high-traffic, highly social spaces to allow for the contagious reaction, knowing that if one person took notice and ripped the posters down others would too.

NO PLACE FOR HARASSMENT

As well as OOH in Toronto. Montréal and Vancouver, the campaign was amplified by influencer partnerships and lived across social channels. We also partnered with major cultural festivals, such as Toronto International Film Festival, to spark a national conversation about the issue and perform live trainings.

CANADIANS ARE TAKING NOTICE

+363,000,000 impressions.

+7,900% increase in social conversations.

+514,000 Stand Up website visits.

+54% increase in traffic.

TURNING POLITENESS INTO PROACTIVITY

+39,700 Canadians trained to Stand Up safely against street harassment - over twice as many Canadians trained versus the original objective.

A WORTHY CAUSE

82% of people surveyed after exposure to the campaign said their impression of the L’Oréal Paris brand was improved for the better.