Happn and Equality Now use fake profiles to expose 'hidden violence' on International Women's Day
Global women's rights organisation Equality Now has teamed up with dating app Happn for an International Women's Day push designed to expose hidden violence around women.
The campaign will play on Happn's location-based matchmaking to highlight the shocking statistic that one in three women worldwide have been victims of phyical or sexual abuse.
Today (8 March) users of the app, which let singletons connect with people they've crossed paths with in real life, will be shown images of female models portaying survivors of domestic violence instead of potential dates. Instead of identifying the women by name, the text box underneath will read: 'I'm One in Three'.
The first image will show a bruised woman, and when Happn users scroll through her other pictures they will see her gradually heal as people pay attention. London, Paris, Hong Kong and New York are among the 21 cities that will play host to the push.
“Our primary purpose is to facilitate encounters in real life. Making the connection between overlooked survivors of violence against woman and all the rest of us who otherwise pass them by every day, Happn is a means to raise awareness of the cause," said Didier Rappaport, chief executive and co-founder, Happn.
Equality Now's global executive director, Yasmeen Hassan, said she hoped that 'One in Three' would "inspire everyone to call on their governments to end all forms of violence against women."
"This International Women's Day is yet another great opportunity for all governments to take a concrete step in this direction by reviewing their legislation and removing all laws that help perpetuate violence, or which discriminate against women," she said.