In India, 39 crimes against women are reported every hour; every day, the newspapers are splattered with cases of crimes against women. In the last decade, India has seen an 83% rise in reported cases of crimes against women. Due to such prevalence of injustice against women, they are always perceived as the weaker sex, thus creating a gender disparity.

The presence of gender disparity can be realised from the fact that in India, even if something untoward happens to a woman, she herself gets blamed for it. Hence, it becomes imperative for women to know how to stand up for themselves.

To instil this spirit of #FitToFight and bring about the much-needed reform, Reebok India stepped in with – #BruisesCanBeGood. Since in India, bruises are seen as a sign of physical violence and a woman's weakness, Reebok India took up this most common evidence of violence and portrayed it as a mark of her strength.

On International Women’s Day, when everyone’s celebrating and honouring strong women, we got the nation talking about something that’s contradictory to women empowerment – bruised women.

In a nation where bruises on a woman are considered as a sign of vulnerability, we showed that bruises can be a mark of a woman’s strength, and can be a portrayal of her #FitToFight spirit. Thus, #BruisesCanBeGood was introduced.

This concept of ‘good bruises’ was a strong plank to build a case about the prevalence of injustice against women and the need for self-defence education for them.

On March 7 – eve of International Women’s Day, Indians were shocked to see bruised women at different locations. The nation started talking about the bruises, speculating untoward scenarios.

Next day, Reebok India revealed a harsh reality through a social experiment. People from all walks of life were brought face-to-face with a bruised woman and asked the reason behind her bruises. 85% of the audience claimed the reason to be physical violence, bringing to light a cruel truth – violence against women is so common in India that a bruised woman is always seen as a victim of injustice. A twist at the end revealed the identity of the bruised woman – a mixed martial artist. Featuring a real combat artist as the protagonist, the experiment underlines the brand’s message – #FitToFight, and concludes with a request to sign the petition to make self-defence classes mandatory for female students.

#BruisesCanBeGood stirred the nation, reaching 7 million people and earning 4 million video views on Women’s Day itself. Over the course of 4 weeks, the message spread far and wide as various media players spread the message about how a brand was claiming bruises to be good for women. The campaign has reached 12.2 million people and garnered earned media worth INR 7.5 million. The #BruisesCanBeGood social experiment has received over 8 million views across multiple digital platforms and increased the brand’s view time on YouTube by 80000%. The petition has been signed by 9820+ people asking for a reform for a strong and safe society.

Data from accredited sources like National Family Health Survey (India) and Crime in India 2016 Report by National Crime Records Bureau informed us about the state of crime against Indian women. Every day, newspapers gave us enough data and proof to realise the plight of Indian women and their safety.

To highlight this critical issue of women safety, the brand wanted the support of the entire nation, from the common people to the country’s decision makers. The more the number of people understand the gravity of the situation, the sooner a reform would be possible.

The insight was born through one of the biggest signs of violence against women — bruises. There’s a story behind every bruise. How often has anyone heard of one that ends on a good note? Instead of indicating weakness, the task was to show that bruises can be a mark of a woman’s fighting spirit.

Being a women-centric brand, Reebok India has one mantra for the women of the nation – #FitToFight, that is, be physically, mentally and socially strong. The brand endeavours to spread awareness about gender disparity in the nation with campaigns covering issues such as women empowerment, equal pay, and also eve-teasing.

In India, 39 crimes against women are reported every hour (Crime in India 2016 report by National Crime Records Bureau). The plight of Indian women can be understood by the fact that every third woman in India, since the age of 15, has faced some form of domestic violence (National Family Health Survey). These facts bring out the gruesome reality of women safety in India.

Realizing this gravity of women safety, Reebok India wanted to extend its message of #FitToFight and ensure that every woman exhibits the fighting spirit. To do so, the brand had to find a way to ensure that every woman knows how to protect and defend herself, if ever the need arises.