Summary

Over 73% of domestic abuse cases go unreported in India and we aimed to change that. Thappad wanted to inculcate a habit of reporting domestic abuse – wherever it’s witnessed.

Awards

Spikes Asia: 1 Silver and 4 Bronze metals

Cannes Lion: 1 Silver Lion 

Insight

1 in 2 married women are victims of domestic abuse, and yet, 86% of cases go unreported – owing to factors like victim blaming, large-scale insensitivity and a general attitude of trivialising incidents of domestic violence as mere family ‘squabbles’.

Apart from YouTube being accessible to everyone, it allowed us to specifically target our message to Bollywood fans, film lovers and social commentators. We utilised the anticipation that surrounds every Bollywood movie trailer on YouTube to drive home the message that no matter who you are or what you do – domestic abuse is an evil that’s to be reported immediately, wherever it’s witnessed.

Creative Idea & Execution

Since every modern revolution has begun as a small spark on social media, it was only fair that we chose that as our medium too.

We deceived our viewers by releasing what looked like a regular trailer for a film on YouTube, but was actually much more. The trailer was designed with the specific intention for it to be reported and taken down. When Taapsee Pannu’s (one of India’s most popular leading ladies) character is slapped in this trailer, she breaks the fourth wall and asks viewers to report it using YouTube’s built-in report feature – because domestic abuse should never go unreported.