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By Chris Sutcliffe, Senior reporter

July 3, 2022 | 3 min read

Ahead of the 2022 Uefa European Women’s Football Championship, EE is teaming up with a mixed-gender squad of footballers to push back against online misogyny.

The team, which will be managed by Gareth Southgate, includes Ellen White, Lucy Bronze, Marissa Callaghan, Rebecca Sellar, Demi Stokes, Andy Robertson, Dan James, Declan Rice, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson.

The players will appear in exclusive online content designed to teach audiences the digital skills required to prevent, report and stamp down on online sexism. The campaign tagline, ‘Not Her Problem’, is designed to remind the audience of the role men must play in preventing online hate.

A recent YouGov survey commissioned by EE found that 53% of the public don’t feel the internet is a safe space for women. 62% also believe that not enough is being done to tackle online and offline misogyny. As a result, EE’s Hope United will highlight the responsibility of men to ally with women during the Euros, encouraging them to own and challenge the problem of sexist abuse online and elsewhere.

Marc Allera, the chief exec of EE, said: “While the majority will be rightly giving their support to the athletes competing in the Women’s Euros this summer, there will be the vocal minority trying to denounce and discredit the women’s game.

“Now, more than ever, it is imperative we come together to champion hope over hate, placing the onus on men to own the problem: this is why EE Hope United will continue to help shape a safer online world, giving others the confidence and knowhow to help call out and put a stop to online sexist hate.”

The campaign is set to run today (July 4) and throughout the Women’s Euros, featuring on EE’s social and digital channels and displayed in OOH destinations across the UK, including at Birmingham New Street, Liverpool Lime Street and London Waterloo station.

Hope United was created by Saatchi & Saatchi, with PR run by Pitch Marketing Group and media buying by Essence. The campaign marks a continuation of the Hope United initiative that launched ahead of last year’s Uefa European Championships to tackle all forms of online hate.

In addition to the core publicly-facing elements of the campaign, EE has partnered with HateLab to provide each player with their own personalized Hope United shirt.

Using behavioral data, which scrapes information from each player’s social media account, the shirts show a visual representation of how people are talking about them online, translating emotions associated with various sentiments into a visual color and style, creating a unique design for each squad member. The shirts will be available to purchase, with all proceeds going to anti-bullying non-profit Cybersmile.

Online Safety Brand Purpose Women's Football

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