Our brief from the Mayor of London was to change the attitudes – and actions – of men, and make London a safer space for women. Too many men stand by and watch misogynistic behaviour happening, and research has shown that low-level misogyny is often a precursor to violence. We needed men to end this bystander attitude and become women’s allies.

Male violence against women and girls is an epidemic in the UK. A woman dies at the hands of a man every three days and 97% have been sexually harassed. For too long the onus has been on women to adapt their behaviour and protect themselves. But it’s not women who need to change: it’s men. Not just the perpetrators, but the ones who stand by and let misogynistic behaviour go unchallenged. We needed to challenge men to look at themselves and shift from being passive spectators.

It was about time men were the ones who were made to feel uncomfortable, not women.

‘Have a word with yourself, then your mates’ is a simple and yet powerful call to action to start changing men’s behaviour. It tells men who stand by and allow misogynistic behaviour that they too are involved: they should ask themselves whether it’s acceptable to witness it but do nothing. It compels men to act, using peer to peer pressure, to step in and stop toxic male behaviour towards women whenever they see it happening.

For too long men have been passive bystanders when it comes to witnessing misogynistic behaviour. They dismiss it as harmless and playful. But studies have shown that violence against women and girls often starts with words, but may not stop there. Furthermore, 76% of women feel like men could be doing more to help them feel safe. Many women can’t even sit on a train without feeling unsafe. This must change. But their cries were falling on deaf ears. So, if men aren’t listening to women, what if the message came from other men instead? Behavioural science insights had shown us that peer to peer pressure would be the most effective way to change men’s habits and behaviour, where all other methods had failed. It was important not to alienate men, but for them to feel like they were allies. It worked. 65% of social commentary was by men.

We created a raw campaign to make men uncomfortable with witnessing misogynistic behaviour and to break their own inertia about taking action against it. It ran on social media, cinemas, Premier League football games. Out of home took over Piccadilly Circus, Transport for London and male bathrooms across the capital. The campaign came from the Mayor of London but it soon spread far and wide – from France, Italy and Sweden to Australia, Singapore and Brazil. Schools incorporated the film into their curriculum. The UN is including it in education and training materials being rolled out to millions of men.

• 3.1billion earned impressions

• 307million earned reach

• 65% of social commentary was by men

• 77% positive sentiment

However, genuine social change was our ambition – and schools have incorporated our film into their curriculum.

The UN is including it in education and training materials being rolled out to millions of men.

The Metropolitan Police used our film to start an online conversation.

On the Mayor’s Instagram page alone, the film has been viewed over 5.5m times.

It was shared by large international organisations such as Fifa, the UN, universities, councils, NGOs, sports stars and influencers – with no paid support.

Proactively, TikTok put the film on their discover page and we made the front page of reddit.