Women’s organization YWCA Canada has launched #NOTokay, a social campaign that urges Canadians to speak out when they come across instances of women being objectified and attacked in the media.
Developed by Juniper Park, the national campaign is intended to mark the 25th anniversary of the massacre at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique, in which 14 women were killed. The #NOTokay hashtag can be used to point out anything from a misogynistic tweet, sexist image or music video, to a video game where women are beaten, raped and killed. Canadians are also encouraged to adopt the hashtag and its logo, (a red X in block letters) as their profile picture on social media.
“We’re surrounded by all these media images, and all these lyrics, shows and entertainment that have all this violence, extreme violence really, against women,” said Terry Drummond, partner and executive creative director, Juniper Park. “It comes our way, and you can speak out against it, but you’re kind of a small voice in a big sea. The idea of the hashtag is to sort of collect those voices together…if lots of people feel that something’s offensive, they have a common way of addressing it, a common tool.”
Since its launch on Nov 25, #NOTokay has caught the eye of some high profile Canadians and organizations, with Justin Trudeau, Thomas Mulclair, CUPE and United Steelworkers all tweeting their support.
Additional elements of the campaign include radio PSAs, along with three 15-second videos (posted below) — “Not a Game,” “No Joke” and “Change the Tune,” — seeded on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Juniper Park has also created a dedicated website, NotOkay.ca, which aggregates all online activity using #NOTokay. Visitors to the site can watch videos featuring abuse survivors, view statistics and download the logo for their social profiles.
Headspace Marketing adapted #NOTokay for the Quebec market, and media was handled by PHD Canada.
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