The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

Author

By Imogen Watson, Senior reporter

March 26, 2021 | 3 min read

You may not be anywhere near the office water cooler right now, but we still want to spotlight the most talked about creative that should be on your radar. Today, we're looking at #AllMenCan - a campaign to tackle violence against women in the UK.

As the UK mourned the death of Sarah Everard, a contentious hashtag - #NotAllMen - began circulating, sparking debate about the right or wrong way to approach the issue of male violence against women.

Offering a variation on the controversial hashtag, a collective of charities, organisations and individuals, led by the PR company Weber Shandwick, has united under #AllMenCan.

Encouraging men to be better allies, the initiative reads: “We know all men can learn and teach others to help end violence against women. We know the only way to make that happen is to keep the conversation going.”

Weber Shadwick

The campaign points men in the direction of the #AllMenCan website, encouraging them to learn how to do so with some helpful advice. To get the message out, Clear Channel and JCDecaux have donated over 6,000 sites across the UK.

The initiative is supported by a coalition of charities, that include White Ribbon, which works to end male violence by engaging men and boys to take a stand against violence, Our Streets Now, a movement to end public sexual harassment, and Weprotect, a charity creating solutions for those working to tackle domestic abuse, as well as Help Me Angela, Beyond Equality and Good Night Out.

#AllMenCan joins a number of initiatives that have come to the fore following the outpouring of grief over Sarah Everard's death. Earlier this week, the marketing industry anti-sexual harassment initiative #timeTo issued a statement with a detailed plan for those that want to take action.

IPA: Get Home Safe by Creature

Meanwhile, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) is lobbying the UK government, calling on it to amend the HMRC rule that tax taxi expenses. The present rule means if employees jump into a taxi to get home before 9pm, this is viewed as a taxable benefit, which might discourage bosses from keeping employees safe.

The first iteration of the creative appeared via an open letter to businesses in national newspapers this week, with more to follow. Spearheaded by Creature London,150 ad agencies have signed the letter so far, including BBD Perfect Storm, Carat UK and Ogilvy.

Creative Water Cooler Creative

More from Creative

View all