L’Oréal Encourages Public To Tear Down Victim-Blaming Posters Against Harassment

Unfortunately, even in this day and age, 80% of Canadian women have reported experiencing street harassment. And while catcalling and inappropriate remarks run rampant, only 6% of women who have suffered from these actions have had someone intervene on their behalf.

As such, L’Oréal Paris Canada has teamed up with social organization Right to Be and creative agency McCann Montreal to break the cycle of victims being left to defend themselves and spur witnesses to help intervene and stop incidents of street harassment in the future.

The first step to teaching the public how to engage when they spot a woman in distress? An outdoor campaign with “asking for it” victim-blaming statements that enrage passersby enough to tear them down.

These posters were put up in high-traffic areas across the country, in which bystanders would first see a provocative message blaming women for being harassed—with common excuses such as “women who wear red lipstick are asking for it.”

Upon closer look, a footnote calls on the public to tear the posters down, and when they do, new, white-colored messages take their place, revealing a QR code that directs people to sign up for training to help them better stand up to street harassment in the future.

Edouard Hottebart, General Manager at L’Oréal Paris Canada, told LBB Online that the brand felt the right way to address this widespread problem was to make it something that the public had to address together, not just leave it to the immediate victim to deal with.

He hopes the campaign will drive half a million Canadians to take the 10-minute training program so that more people will be able to fight against harassment in a safe manner. And that if they disagree with victim-blaming statements, it’s time to divert that anger into being the solution.

[via LBB Online and The Message, images via L’Oréal Paris Canada]