In South Africa, a misconception exists that woman abuse occurs only in lower income communities. But, statistically a high incidence of woman abuse occurs in upper income groups too.

We wanted these women to consider POWA (People Opposing Woman Abuse) when seeking help, and to change the belief that the organisation only helps in poorer communities. POWA therefore needed to reach these women in a relevant way and communicate potentially life-saving information to them.

This needed to be done without endangering the women’s lives by arousing the abusers’ suspicions, as the most dangerous time for a woman in an abusive relationship is when she begins to seek help and make plans to leave her abuser. And with 1400 women being killed by their partners in South Africa each year, the threat of violence is very real.The solution was to develop a pamphlet, in partnership with high profile brand Nine West, that looked like a high-end shoe brochure, and disguise the POWA information inside. Only once someone opened the brochure and began to read, was it revealed that the it contained potentially life-saving information for an abused woman.

Pamphlets were distributed at relevant touch-points like women’s magazine outlets, malls and Nine West stores, knowing our chances of reaching either abused women or concerned neighbours/friends of abused women would be high, as statistically 1 in 4 South African women experience domestic abuse.