MUMBAI – Building on the worldwide success of its #EndAcidSale campaign for Make Love Not Scars last year, Ogilvy has launched a powerful new campaign to benefit the cause of acid-attack survivors.
In the campaign hash-tagged #SkillsNotScars, acid-attack survivors present their skills to potential employers through a CV with a twist – a Video CV. After stating standard information about themselves and their skills, these women end their Video CV by saying that they could have well emailed a written out CV like any other candidate, but they created a Video CV so that their potential employer could also see their acid-scarred faces, and they hoped that this will not be the barrier for their employers.
Kainaz Karmakar and Harshad Rajadhyaksha, Executive Creative Directors, Ogilvy Mumbai: Acid-attack survivors face the added unfairness of the world cringing at the sight of their scarred faces. A huge part of the fight back against this evil, is for society to accept these innocent victims back into the social fold. And there can be no greater support than to look beyond their scars and employ these girls for the skills they bring to the table.
A cause as powerful and rich in intent, also deserved an equally powerful communication. That’s where the uniqueness of ‘Video CVs’ as a format will get the world to sit up and take notice, we believe. We are very glad that after having put the cause of acid-attack survivors on the world stage last year, our team has been able to take this meaningful next step to bring dignity and financial freedom to these brave girls. We are equally glad to partner Ria Sharma, our MLNS client whose passion for this cause is unmatched.
Harshik Suraiya, Associate Creative Director, Ogilvy Mumbai: More than anything else this has been a journey of learning for me. The courage, the spirit and the smile on the faces of these survivors has taught me that life is what you make of it. I hope the courage they have shown in this campaign is supported by equal courage from the world and they are welcomed with open arms and open minds.
The campaign led by Video CVs takes viewers and potential employers to a page that is a one-of-a-kind online Employment Exchange for hiring various acid-attack survivors.
