In Greece, juvenile violence had dramatically increased by 200% in 2023. 1 in 3 students is a victim of bullying, according to a survey, while 63% do not report it out of fear of retaliation.

The Greek Ministry of Education wanted to encourage students to speak up and urge them and their parents to file reports in a new web platform at stop-bullying.gov.gr

Our assignment was to create a campaign to shock the nation about the seriousness of the problem and raise awareness about the new platform as a solution.

We wanted the campaign to capture the public discussion and have everyone talking about the issue, inspiring a change in behavior among students, parents, and teachers alike.

Our goal was to establish bullying behavior as unaccepted by our society and urge bystanders to intervene and victims to speak up in order to break the cycle of violence.

To showcase the cycle of violence, we created a short film inspired by true events.

The idea was to dramatize the TV reports Greek viewers had been watching every week on the news about one vicious bullying incident after the other.

In the film titled "Witnesses," we see three families watching a TV report about an attack by students on a schoolmate. The parents ask their kids if they know anything, and although they deny it, viewers soon find out they're all involved in it, whether as observers, perpetrators, or victims themselves.

Viewers watch a tragic hero begin as an observer who doesn't intervene to become a victim and finally a bully himself in a dramatic reversal that causes fear & pity.

In the end, the hero becomes the third boy, who finds the courage to seek help, signifying the campaign's message not to tolerate bullying but to speak up.

School bullying affects not only the victims and their families but the entire school community.

Studies show that sometimes victims become bullies themselves, adopting similar behaviors to cope or regain a sense of power. Thus, the cycle of violence continues, from abuser to victim, often observed by silent bystanders.

We wanted to showcase this vicious circle and urge students to break it by speaking up.

Αs a government-led initiative, we wanted to show society how bad things are at schools, not hiding away from the problem but facing it head-on, appearing determined to solve it with the new platform.

Our goal was to create a piece of drama that would hold a mirror to society and get everyone talking, from news presenters to viewers at home and internet users, moved by the film's emotional impact.

The audience we wanted to approach included students, their parents, and the entire Greek society.

The three-and-a-half-minute film was first presented by the Greek Prime Minister himself, together with the Minister of Education, at a public high school and shown live on a national TV broadcast detailing the launch of the new web platform for filing complaints and other measures the government's policy against bullying would include.

The film was then sent to all TV stations and news organizations, along with a detailed presentation about the new web platform's functionality and the procedures for processing the complaints.

The Minister of Education was invited to give live in-studio interviews on several TV stations, as well as in newspapers and magazines, to describe the policy.

At the same time, the film was uploaded online on all major social media platforms by both the Ministry of Education and the Onassis Foundation, which has a far bigger following.

News of the campaign and the dramatic short film the government was using to urge students to speak up became the headline story on all TV networks and dominated the public conversation for an entire week.

Over 50 TV shows aired the film for free, and numerous panels discussed it, with hosts passionately praising its realism and emotional impact. The government's campaign and the emotional film it used garnered over 250 news articles, and the film was screened by teachers at schools across the country.

At the same time, the film became a big viral hit online, with more than 5 million organic views on Instagram alone in the first two days in a country with 8 million internet users. The film was widely shared and received more than 80.000 likes and thousands of heartfelt comments.

Most importantly, during the first week of the campaign, the number of complaints filed increased sevenfold compared to the average number of complaints collected through other means the year before.