Gender-based violence is a profound and widespread problem in South Africa. Creating awareness around it is important, targeting all residents in Cape Town.

One of the many ways the normalization of gender-based violence creeps into society is through men’s perceived “innocent” and “victimless” actions such as locker room talk, rape jokes, the objectification of women, and by not speaking out.

3 content pieces were created, showing how the actions and inactions of men creep into the world of young boys & girls: a girl’s first encounter with boy objectifying her, a girl’s first encounter with a catcall, and a boy’s first encounter with a sexist joke. Each showed men that it’s their responsibility to teach the next generation how they should behave to break the cycle of gender-based violence.

Target audience

Broken down into 3 sectors:

- Men in denial: Men who don’t associate themselves with being the accused or relate to the general conversation around women and child abuse #MenAreTrash.

- Silent Survivors: Men who refuse to rectify conversation around abusive and toxic behaviour amongst friends, in order to remain part of the friendship circle.

- Affirmation Seekers: Men who seek affirmation from their peer groups around toxic behaviour towards women.

We worked towards 4 strategic directions:

1. Gender based violence

2. Understanding the severity of the situation

3. Empathy towards opposite sex

4. Masculinity

This approach was used to inform a creative brief.

3 content pieces were created,showing how the actions and inactions of men creep into the world of young boys & girls: a girl’s first encounter with boy objectifying her,a girl’s first encounter with a catcall,and a boy’s first encounter with a sexist joke. Each showed men that it’s their responsibility to teach the next generation how they should behave to break the cycle of gender-based violence.

The campaign ran over South Africa's annual 16 Days of Activism period: 25 November to 10 December.