Sometimes the loudest message can be delivered in silence.
That's the tactic French ad agency BETC Paris took today when it released a video to accompnay its jarring pro bono ad campaign,“Bruises” that advocates for domestic abuse victims.
The video shows a public demonstration on Nov. 25 where dozens of women, painted with realistic facial bruises walk in silence near the Pompidou Center in Paris. Suddenly they drop to the floor. Onlookers take photos with their mobile phones, others walk over the demonstrators -- ignoring them completely. At the end, a French banner is shown saying, "In a single year, 122 women die after experiencing domestic violence."
Last month, BETC Paris published three images in conjunction with the Nov. 25 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and in partnership with nonprofit Ni Putes Ni Soumises, which stands for Neither Whores Nor Submissives.
The campaign uses few words, but the images are loaded.
Each of the three bruises is accompanied by a name, two dates and two-word captions that describe the fate of three domestic abuse victims.
An image of a fading brown bruise is paired with the caption, “Booze Brown.” The crimson image is labeled “Rape Red” and the green, “Grave Green.”
“The visuals, which at first glance appear to be abstract fine art photographs, reveal an important message as each one of them tells a tragic individual story of deadly domestic violence,” BETC said in a statement.
First launched in 1981, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, invites governments, international organizations and NGOs to use the day to raise awareness for the struggles
"Millions of women and girls around the world are assaulted, beaten, raped, mutilated or even murdered in what constitutes appalling violations of their human rights,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement.
“We must fundamentally challenge the culture of discrimination that allows violence to continue.”
Check out the campaign video below:
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