The brief was to come up with an original campaign to address escalating rates of gender- based violence during lockdowns and to use the media to talk about the root causes of this violence. Men reject an over-simplification of toxic masculinity. And fail to grasp the depths of what their behaviours impact those around them. Gender-based violence can also take many forms. Not just physical. We needed to help men identify various behaviours which have destructive outcomes.

The film follows the story of a family in lockdown experiencing a troubling pattern of domestic abuse. Told from the separate perspectives of two partners, the film uses the same set of words to tell two very different stories of isolation: one of a man, trapped in negative ways of thinking, with complicated emotions he never really learned to articulate; and a woman who is trapped inside her home with a man who is becoming increasingly volatile and unrecognizable to her.

The PR Strategy revolved targeting men at risk of gender- based violence in lockdown. We created an original 4-minute film called “Day After Day” which delved into the complexities of what was happening in homes across Canada. To reinforce these nuances within media coverage, we surrounded this film with a coalition of women’s groups (Canadian Women’s Foundation), the Canadian Federal government and spokespeople including the mayor of Toronto John Tory, and major Canadian sports figures who themselves were the victims of gender-based violence as children. This allowed us to tell the story from various perspectives and amplify key messages such as how men could get help dealing with toxic masculinity through White Ribbon.

The film launched worldwide on Father’s Day, 2021, and was backed by a coalition of media to support the campaign. A national media relations campaign featured three key spokespeople – including former NHL player and media host, Georges Laraque, who spoke to his personal experience with domestic abuse in the home, and whose high profile helped increase visibility of the campaign.

The PR approach allowed for many high-quality stories that outlined the complexities of what was happening. Most importantly it drove substantial traffic to the white ribbon website where men could get educated about the root causes of gender- based violence.

• substantial link clicks from media overage -17,964

• website unique site visits were up 5700% during the campaign, averaging over 2000 unique visits a day for the month following

The website was a resource hub for White Ribbon's with materials aimed at educating on healthy masculinity and housed the campaign videos and resources for more support so that men at risk of gender- based violence could get help.

• 141 New Stories. 68 million Impressions on launch day alone

The media coverage allowed White Ribbon to petition the government for more help resulting in an extra $500,000 in funding to continue their work helping men understand their toxic masculinity.