Rutgers
Victims of sexual and physical violence often have to deal with victim blaming. A girl is assaulted for wearing a short skirt. A boy can’t get out of bed anymore because his dick pic all over school. "It's their own fault," is the easy answer. But blaming a victim for their behaviour is never ok. In the youth campaign "See victim blaming? #saysomething! "We explain in understandable and recognizable language and form what victim blaming is and provide tools to do something about it.

Generation yeah so…? has gone much further

Research from institute Rutgers demonstrated we didn’t need to prove to young people that victim blaming is wrong. The issue was that they thought they were the only ones with this opinion. So, our job was to get them to speak out on the subject. Say something!

The creative reaction culture

To change the behavior of young people between 17 and 23 years old, we are capitalizing on their online response culture that takes place on Snapchat, Instagram, Telegram and of course WhatsApp. Creativity plays an important role here because young people derive social status from creative and humorous reactions. And sometimes a GIF also says more than 1000 words.

A good example to follow

To demonstrate the desired behavior, we outline four examples in the form of app group conversations. We show a reaction that is not okay and how you can respond to it. In this way we immediately show that the majority agree.

Stickers and GIF’s FTW

Instead of shaming the target group we give them the tools to speak up and speak out. Through stickers and GIFs which they can use on WhatsApp, Telegram and Instagram when they see victim blaming. Reactions that stick.

Stand by your snap

Through a SnapChat filter young people can show they will speak out if they see victim blaming. And yes, if you say it on snap, you have to own up to it. The filter also works to show young people what there friends think of victim blaming.

#rokjesdag - a hook

The campaign went live together with #rokjesdag (skirt day). With the thought: ‘why were you even wearing a skirt like that?, in mind, Dutch celebrities like Tim Hofman and Frank van der Lende wore skirts and posted about it on social media. Media like Linda, Metronieuws, and The Telegraaf wrote about the importance of the campaign.

Merge people

This merge made the campaign possible: a super fusion. Victoria , Daan , Mella , Corinne, Milenka, Vijay, Maartje, Paul, Frank, Nick, Scott, Sietske en Willy

Victoria Eelsing
Campaign Manager @ TheMerge
Daan Giele
Owner@Egotribe
Mella MM
Voice-over
Corinne Genestay
Strategic Planner
Milenka Pijl
Campagne-en Communicatiemedewerker @ Rutgers
Vijay Kanhai
Music Producer @ Soulsearchin
Maartje Puts
Campaigner @ Rutgers
Paul Meijer
Managing Director @ TheMerge
Frank Jockin
Creative Lead @ TheMerge
Nick Ofman
Advertising specialist @ Brandfirm
Scott van der Velden
Motion Graphic designer @ TheMerge
Sietske van der Vegte
Designer @ TheMerge
Willy van Berlo
Coordinator National Programmes @ Rutgers