"A woman is raped every four minutes in South Africa and our rate of sexual violence is amongst the highest in the world," says Joe Public's executive creative director Xolisa Dyeshana. "Given the spate of heinous crimes against women that continue to flood the media, we saw the annual State of The Nation Address as the perfect opportunity to voice Brothers for Life's stance."
"The agency placed a large-scale advert that featured a transcription of the address in its entirety. At timed four-minute intervals, the words '1 woman' were placed throughout the speech. It all together with the copy 'During this state of the nation address, 18 women were raped in South Africa. What does that say about the state of our nation?'
"The copy went on to call upon South African men to unite against rape. It ended off with the hashtag '#brothersunite', so that people could tweet about the campaign and air their thoughts in a collective space. The hashtag will also be used by Brothers for Life going forward as the campaign is extended to target gender-based violence as a whole."
The agency's aim is to unite South African men as people who actively oppose violence against women and children. "Alone we can do so little, but together we can do so much," concludes Dyeshana.
