The campaign got Singapore talking about bullying for the first time. Over 50,000 Facebook shares (not just views or likes) and 900,000 Twitter impressions sparked a national conversation. Our message reached 6.5 million Facebook users, and a further 29.6 million via traditional media. The CABCY Facebook community tripled. Singapore Member of Parliament Dr Lily Neo voiced her support to the cause. Through a counter-intuitive use of social media, a small voluntary group got the nation to notice a social menace that had been unspoken till then. Though our target was Singapore, we got unprecedented free coverage in over 30 countries.

We reached out to parents, teachers, schools, educational institutions and anti-bullying groups and got them to share the video. Facebook promoted posts and sponsored stories targeted to parents and teachers in Singapore helped us reach the relevant people. At every point, we informed social media users that the video shortens with every share till it’s wiped out completely. Thousands of victims, bystanders, parents and teachers came together on social media to Share It To End It. We used the video as a powerful metaphor: Just like we could end the video by sharing it, we can end bullying by sharing our experiences about it.

A recent study confirmed what a huge problem bullying was in Singapore. But no one even knew about it, because kids were reluctant to share their experiences. The Coalition Against Bullying for Children and Youth (CABCY) knew they had to spark a national conversation.

Social media had become notorious for cyber bullying in one of the world’s most digitally connected countries. What if the same platform where bullying was rampant could be turned into a safe space for sharing about bullying?

Our insight was that the more you share the truth about bullying, the less it happens. We created the world’s first un-viral video: an animated film that told the story of a boy who was bullied. Every time someone shared the video, it got shorter, and the suffering of the boy was literally reduced till it got wiped out completely.