You may or may not have had ‘the dress’ waltz onto your phone or computer screen last week, asking if you saw a black and blue dress, or gold and white one. It was a silly question that seemed to divide the internet world for 24 hours (Note: It was without doubt black and blue).
But not so silly is the South African chapter of the Salvation Army very cleverly referencing ‘The Dress’, to help raise awareness about domestic violence, and here is how they’ve done it:
It is clever, and gets straight to the point — why is it so hard to see the issue? The image, which features a woman covered in bruises and wearing the dress, states: “The only illusion is if you think it was her choice.”
Another awareness campaign against domestic violence that has gone live this week, to time with International Women’s Day, is one in London.
A billboard, featuring a picture of an injured woman who heals as people stop and pay attention to her, uses facial recognition technology to register when people are looking to the advert, updating a viewer count at the bottom of the board and gradually altering the image.
The billboard is a collaboration between London ad agency WCRS, charity Women’s Aid and photographer Rankin.
Both a very clever campaigns to keep the issue of domestic violence talked about, something that is literally usually kept behind closed doors.
Amy Feldtmann 