Maybelline wanted to activate in the gaming space to grow brand equity and sales with their under 35 demographic. The decision to focus on gamers was made due to the strong overlap between digitally savvy makeup buyers, and female gamers. However, having not activated in a meaningful way in gaming before, there were risks associated with such an approach - in particular being called out for grabbing at a market we had limited credibility with.

The creative challenge was therefore to activate in the gaming space in a way that felt genuine to the brand, and to our audience. Maybelline already had a clear purpose to assist with this“to give people the confidence to express themselves, create and play”.

The creative opportunity became clear when our commisioned research uncovered two alarming statistics, demonstrating that gaming was not an environment where our audience was confident or safe. Firstly 83% of female gamers recouned that they had experienced harassment, secondly a staggering 90% hid their identity to feel safe in online environments . This tension provided our creative problem and springboard - how could we encourage young people in online gaming spaces to feel safer, when they were literally hiding themselves away to avoid persecution?

We executed a thought provoking and confronting content film, Through Their Eyes, which saw male gaming influencers play a popular first person shooter online with voice alteration and female gaming profiles, to make them sound and appear female. Through the social experiment the two male gamers were subjected to a barrage of never before experienced harassment, all because they sounded female.

The approach was deliberately inclusive, with the social experiment being followed by a heartfelt discussion between our male gaming influencers, and two female identifying gaming influencers, on the problem of abuse in the online gaming space, and how to tackle it.

The response was astounding. Inspired by the content, gamers globally shared the video and their own stories of harassment. The campaign contributed towards a positive conversation about how to address abusive behaviour, and a shift in momentum towards a reduction in harassment online. We partnered with ReachOut - a well known mental health provider in Australia, to provide resources and a safe space gamers could go to share their experiences and seek support.

Some quotes from gamers show the impact this campaign had on making people feel seen and heard:

“This is so powerful. People underestimate what women go through on a daily basis using voice chat while gaming online… please watch all the way”.

“I don’t care if you’re a gamer, a parent of a gamer or none of the above, watch this video. Discrimination and harassment is never OK. Games have the power to be the ultimate leveller, and yet it seems we still have a long way to go”.

“This is truly eye opening”.

“It’s good to see big companies pick up on this problem in the gaming industry and show how it really is for us women. Thank you Maybelline”.