In the framework of the UN Women’s campaign to eliminate violence against women that will run in Latin America until December 10, McCann Worldgroup created a spot that put men in the same situations that women live on a daily basis, to raise awareness of the fear that every day they have of being raped.
The aim of this campaign is to call to action and to make society aware to deal with the problem of sexual assault, expecting to promote changes in attitudes and behavior of men.
The advertising agency got involved after last year it signed the “Women Empowerment Principles” in the region. Fernando Fascioli, Regional President of McCann Worldgroup for Latin America and The Caribbean, expressed “We call for more actors to join in this task of UN Women and the great challenge to eradicate negative stereotypes and unconscious bias, but above all to the commitment of a more inclusive and non- violent society, mainly in the field of gender. It´s a big task and depends on actions of all of us at different levels”
Sexual violence is an issue in all over the world. In Brazil, Panamá and Uruguay, 1 in 7 women have suffered physical and sexual violence. In Bolivia, Latin America and The Caribbean, at least 1 in 3 has suffered it at some time in their lives.
María Noel Vaeza, Regional Director of UN Women, highlighted that “though in recent years, survivors and activists have raised their voices to report and condemn this scenario through movements such as #MeToo, #TimesUp, #Niunamenos, #NotOneMore and #BalanceTonPorc, violence against adult women and girls is still common, standardized and rooted in our society”.
In addition, she also ensures that violence is omnipresent: “It´s in all countries and regions of the world. It´s in the advertising that objectifies women or hyper-sexualizes girls; in the sexist “jokes” to which women are exposed in the work environment or in educational centers or in songs inciting sexual violence.”
The hashtag #NoMasViolenciaSexual is used to point out that one of the causes of violence is due to the lack of empathy of men, revealing that society as a whole, has to put into action, by means of social norms to minimize the damage to women and girls, victims of violence, in many cases violent actions are justified, re-victimizing the affected people, and contributing to the cycle of violence.
