For whom the bell rings
Bell Bajao! campaign, a series of films on domestic violence has won the Silver Lion award in the Film Category at the recent Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. The onus of the campaign rests on men. Shoma A. Chatterji reports
A woman screams. A man hears and walks over to the house to investigate. He rings the bell giving the excuse of wanting to use the telephone. In the next episode, a second man shows up, again ringing the bell, to ask for a cup of milk. Then in the third, comes a man accompanied by a group of young teenagers from the neighbourhood wanting to retrieve a lost ball. The three brief episodes comprise Season One, part of the Bell Bajao! (ring the bell) ad campaign against domestic violence.
Made for Breakthrough, a New York-based NGO also working in India, the Bell Bajao! campaign is a one-minute series of films tackling the problem of domestic violence from the man’s angle: both as the perpetrator and the one who threatens the perpetrator without either raising his voice or using a stick. He just rings the bell.
In the process the series highlights how men can ensure that women live a violence-free life in the society.
At Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, 2010, where the campaign picked up the Silver Lion award, it was one out of six short films chosen for a section called Speak Out Against Domestic Violence Short Films Contest with entries from the Netherlands, Mexico, the UK and the US.
Domestic violence occurs in all societies around the world. It is not a function of class, caste, race, religion or nationality. It occurs in rich and poor households alike. It is a fallacy to believe that higher levels of wealth or education automatically protect women from violence. Perpetrators and victims may be highly educated and may also be aware that domestic violence is ‘wrong’ and is a crime. They may belong to any age, sexual orientation and socio-economic background.
“Season One was the initial campaign. Post-release of the same made the entire nation stand up and watch Bell Bajao! People actually walked across and rang the bell,” says Bauddhayan Mukherji who directed the television spots in collaboration with Ogilvy and Mather (O & M) ad agency. Followed Season Two which picked up three real life incidents and reconstructed them. “These were chosen from the hundreds of ‘excuses’ we received in the mail. The three films feature a retired man, a software engineer and a bus driver respectively,” adds Mukherji . The concept came from the Ogilvy team. “Each project has an equilibrium. At times we reach it, at times we fail. On Bell Bajao, I think everything just fell into place. A rare occurrence,” exults Mukherji. The images on the website are by Devansh Jhaveri and Abhigya Shul.
The Bell Bajao! campaign was launched by Breakthrough in August, 2008, in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Child Development. Zenobia Pithawalla, senior creative director, O&M, spearheaded the campaign. It was flashed on TV in audiovisual format, on radio ad spots, in print ads, mobile video vans and online. Season One was triggered off by noted actor Boman Irani and splashed on media networks across the country till Bell Bajao!, claims Breakthrough, became a globally recognised national movement.
The campaign hands men the responsibility of playing a proactive role. Bell Bajao! is the title because it aims at breaking the silences that result in male inaction and inability. It uses the power of popular culture, media, and education to transform public attitude and promotes values of equality, justice and dignity. Says Sonali Khan, director, Creative Communications of Breakthrough; “I did fret for a while over whether this was taking away from women a chance to raise their own voices. I realised that when it comes to violence faced by women, men too need a voice. They experience violence and imbibe violence as a behavioural norm. This vicious cycle has to be broken.”
Bell Bajao! has been virtually on an award-winning spree. It won a gold and a silver at Goafest (2009), two golds at the Indian Documentary Producers Association Awards, a Spikes Asia Gold, a Community Engagement Award at the Media That Matters festival in New York, a special jury mention at the Expression En Corto Film Festival in Mexico and the Best Public Service Advertisement award at the UNFPA-Laadli Media Awards, India, 2009.
This is perhaps the first public service campaign that converts men into natural allies of violated women. It is for the silent men, not violent themselves but who hesitate when it comes to taking action. What if they take a stand? What if they start ringing the bell? They would save many women from being thrashed behind closed doors.
Lest we forget
At least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or abused in some other way - most often by someone she knows, including a family member; one woman in four has been abused during her pregnancy (UNFPA).
Between 10-50% of women in various countries report they have been physically abused by an intimate partner (WHO).
Interpersonal violence was the tenth leading cause of death for women 15-44 years of age in 1988 (WHO).
Population based studies report that between 12 and 25% of women have experienced either attempted or completed or forced sex by an intimate partner or ex-partner at some point in their lives.
( Shoma A. Chatterji is an award-winning film critic)
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