Shocking PSA ads against feminicide

One of the main social issues in France today is feminicide. Since the beginning of 2019, there have already been 121 female deaths as a result of a domestic dispute. This is the same number as the total number of deaths for all of 2018. Faced with this increasing rate of feminicide, the government is looking for effective ways to call society to action.

Around the city, there are multiple posters resembling a mix between a magazine cover and an iPhone notification. The notification features various shocking statistics on feminicide. Your two options : ignore or act. I thought that the presentation of this crisis in such a mundane manner as an everyday notification creates a great parallel and highlights the fact that this is a reality for women every day and that you should act to fight against it every day. By giving two predetermined options, the user is also forced to pick between then two of them. Notice that “snooze” or “reply later” are not within the mix. The poster tells the reader that either you choose to be an insensitive jerk and you don’t react or you choose to be kind and compassionate and you react today.

If you look past the bold and the information that you get on first glance, you see the question “What will you do about it ?”. This is yet another technique to get the reader personally invested in the cause and to urge them to act.

The ad also gives information about who to call if you are in trouble and about the link to the program on the topic, which takes place from November 8th to the 30th. Personally though, while this ad is great for cause awareness, I was left with the question “How can I react ?”. It wasn’t until I closely studied the poster that I noticed that this is not simply an awareness campaign but that there is an actual event organized around it. What do you think about this ad ? Is it effective ? Are there too many concepts going on at the same time ? Is it clear enough to leave an impression ?

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