ONLINE ABUSE:
WOULD YOU SAY IT?
Client: CyberSmile Foundation x ITV
Role: Creative Lead / Concept/ Scriptwriter
Brief:
ITV partnered with the CyberSmile Foundation to tackle online trolling and encourage people to think twice before posting hurtful comments. The challenge was to create a campaign capable of driving genuine behavioural change by making people reconsider the impact of what they say online.
Insight:
Our insight focused around the disconnect between what people are willing to type behind the safety of a screen and what they would ever say face-to-face. We wanted to expose that contradiction and make would be trolls confront the human impact of their own words.
Creative Idea:
We invited keyboard warriors to ‘Put Away Your Keyboard’, built around a simple behavioural message: ‘If You Wouldn’t Say It, Don’t Send It.’ By taking away the anonymity of the screen, we challenged people to consider whether they would ever say those same words to someone’s face.
Across three executions, those on the receiving end of hurtful comments looked directly into camera to confront the trolls behind them, creating the uncomfortable feeling of being addressed without ever seeing the person responsible.
The campaign turned a familiar digital behaviour into a human emotionally engaging experience, encouraging people to think before they post. By bringing the idea to life across multiple executions for TV, social and OOH, we created a campaign designed not just to raise awareness of online abuse but to provoke genuine reflection and behavioural change.