Women's Aid activity targets 'real men'

By Alex Brownsell, marketingmagazine.co.uk, Tuesday, 08 June 2010 08:55AM

Women's Aid, the anti-dom­estic abuse charity, is refocusing its marketing to encourage men to speak out against violence to women and children.

Women's Aid campaign: Duncan Bannatyne

This week it launched a print and digital campaign, created by Grey London, in which
male celebrities pose wearing stereotypically female accessories and T-shirts bearing the slogan 'I'm a real man'.

Those taking part include singer Will Young,  Dragons' Den star Duncan Bannatyne, and England rugby players Danny Care and Ugo Monye.

Debenhams stores will sell 'Real man' T-shirts, priced £10, for the next month.

This marks a departure from Women's Aid's previous shock-tactics approach, including a controversial ad last year in which actress Keira Knightly was shown being attacked by her 'partner'. Clearcast deemed the ad too violent to be shown on TV in its original form.

Women's Aid is launching the campaign to coincide with the start of the World Cup, which the charity's chief executive, Nicola Harwin, said is likely to provoke a rise in incidents of domestic violence.

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk