A new campaign from TBWA/Dublin and the Department of Justice and Equality addresses the frightening lack of awareness of this issue in Ireland.
The problem is that for too long in Ireland, we’ve ignored, or made excuses for totally unacceptable behaviour.
Des Creedon, Creative Director at TBWA\Dublin explains, “For us the process of creating a campaign always begins with a simple insight. What rang truest for us was the idea that in Ireland, whenever we observe or encounter sexual violence and sexual harassment, we’re inclined to absent ourselves of any responsibility – or worse still, excuse behaviour that’s totally inexcusable.”
“For the purposes of raising awareness; fueling a wider conversation and inciting change we liked the idea of a campaign that evolved, or unfolded the issue for our audiences. With this in mind, the creative team of Niall McDonnell and Cian Tormey designed a campaign that first raised awareness of the issue but then reflected Ireland’s attitude towards sexual violence and harassment by reflecting the excuses we make for such behaviour”
‘Is this a problem?’
The first film, directed by Brendan Canty and produced by Antidote films, shows five relatable and unfortunately almost ‘everyday’ scenes of groping, physical harassment, domestic violence all the way to a potential sexual assault. The relatability of these scenes was paramount – because they demonstrate how sexual harassment and violence easily coalesce within the Ireland we know. The voiceover for the ad, Stephen James Smith, simply asks: Is this a problem?
Inciting societal change
Head of Account Management, Paula Kelly explains, and “We used the first version of the ad as a catalyst to get the people of Ireland to question themselves and their own behaviours. And this it certainly did. But once the problem is identified we knew we need to do more to try and create meaningful change”
So TBWA\Dublin, then relayed the scenes to a series of focus groups and recorded their reactions; the reasons they gave to explain the actions of the actors in each scene. This re-edited version became the basis of the second phase of broadcast.
A truly responsive campaign, powered by Ireland’s excuses.
Client: Department of Justice
Principal Officer: Greg J. Heylin
Assistant Principal Officer: Paula J Connolly
Executive Director : Marion Walsh
Executive Officer: Daniel Fitzpatrick
Ministers Media Advisor: Caroline Murphy
Press Officer: Andrew Payne
Agency: TBWA Dublin
CEO: Deirdre Waldron
Creative Director: Des Creedon
Senior Art Director: Cian Tormey
Senior Copywriter: Niall McDonnell
Digital Creative Director: Geoff Barker
Agency Producer: Ana Baena Sanchez
Head of Client Services: Paula Kelly
Account Director: Eibhin McLoughlin
Account Manager: Ruth Gill
Director of Social Media & Content: Andrew Murray
Social Media & Content Specialist: Tomas McCabe
Social Media & Content Executive: Amy Tumelty
Senior Planner: Kathleen Moore
Brand Planner: Lucy Remitz
Junior Planner: Niamh O’Shaughnessy
Production Company: Antidote
Producer: Andrew Freedman
Production Manager: Paula Stewart
Director: Brendan Canty
Post House: Windmill Lane
Audio Post: Mutiny
