Unmute Violence a campaign to reach out to victims of Domestic Violence

Most of us stayed indoors for the last few weeks to protect ourselves, but for some women staying locked indoors meant putting themselves at greater risk.  India’s lockdown saw a huge surge in domestic violence cases with the National Commission for Women (NCW) registering over 587 domestic violence complaints in just the first two weeks. The sudden demand to stay indoors found many vulnerable women stuck with their abuser behind closed doors.

In an effort to combat the situation and provide relief to these victims, The Red Dot Initiative, started by WEFT (Women Entrepreneurs for Transformation) in collaboration with Mumbai based creative agency Thought Blurb launched an awareness campaign that would encourage people to reach out to the victims. With the thought-provoking ‘Unmute Domestic Violence’ campaign, this campaign gives everyone who’s watching a voice against the crime and a chance to save silent victims.

The campaign also promotes WEFT’s Red Dot initiative, that has been was a game-changer in helping domestic violence victims ask for help, without putting their lives at risk.
Iti Rawat, founder of WEFT says, “Red Dot Initiative was started on 30th March 2020 due to rising cases in Domestic Violence during the lockdown period and it’s a global malady.The UN states that most of the domestic violence cases go unreported- due to fear, threat or just societal pressures. This campaign conceptualised by thought blurb is hard hitting and makes the point very well. We ran it on all our social media channels and also through WhatsApp to all the support Groups. The results are encouraging. The calls for help have risen four-fold and that speaks volumes for its effectiveness.”

Commenting on the campaign, Renu Somani, Executive Creative Director, thought blurb said, “We started with a simple truth – that victims don’t have a voice during this lockdown. But you and I do. And it’s up to us to make our voice carry. We used this thought as a metaphor to create a powerful film asking people to lend victims their voice, and their support.”