Violence against women is rooted in gender and relationship models based on control and emotional dependence: this is the starting point for the development of the awareness-raising campaign “Getting Ready,” ideated for Sephora Italia by creative agency LePub and directed by Juul Op den Kamp.
Psychological violence manifests itself through constant and repeated behaviors aimed at controlling and subduing the partner. When we talk about gender-based violence, the focus is often on the physical side. However, not enough is said about the first signs of abusive behavior, especially from a psychological point of view, which are mostly subtle.
The objective of LePub and Sephora Italia’s “Getting Ready” campaign is deliberately simple and direct: to encourage awareness of what are called “Early Signs,” being the first signals of gender-based violence. Taking care of one’s outward appearance, the way one dresses and wears make-up, are powerful means of expressing one’s identity and are often the subject of abusive controlling behavior. Sephora believes in the right of every woman to be able to express herself freely and has once again decided to turn the spotlight on this issue through a campaign with a strong emotional impact.
“The topic addressed in this campaign is a sensitive one, unfortunately of a tragic relevance that cannot leave us indifferent. Signs of violence must be scrupulously observed, properly recognized and promptly interrupted. It starts with a comment, continues with an insult and finally culminates in a concrete act, a dramatic phenomenon that we are forced to read about every day in our newspapers. This is why it is absolutely necessary to act and talk about it: if our message reaches and supports even one person, we will have achieved something of absolute value and great importance,’ commented Francesco Poletti, chief creative officer, LePub Milan.
This film opens with a scene of a young woman getting ready to go out, following her desire to take care, like, enjoy herself, getting ready for her date. She happily loses herself in this “Getting Ready,” in her private, free and spontaneous space. We see her expressing herself in playful, creative gestures and funny, self-conscious expressions. In a climax of self-expression and joyful experimentation, suddenly, we hear the sound of a horn and from the window we see that her partner has arrived. She is suddenly brought back to reality. She changes clothes, quickly removes traces of make-up and goes out to greet her boyfriend in a very different version of herself: subdued, controlled, vulnerable. She suffers a “controlling” look that she faces with tension. Like many women in similar situations, she is not fully aware of how toxic this aspect of her relationship is. The film closes on the importance of recognizing controlling signals and behavior by one’s partner as early signs of violence and with a call to action to ask for help from the Pangea ETS Foundation, Sephora Italia’s partner for gender-based violence issues.
