In 2021, 72 crimes were committed against women in Azerbaijan. Gender equality give a good account of itself in the parlament as well – only 22 out of 125-seat parliament (17.6 %) are occupied by women. Another saddening fact is that the country unfortunately still ranks second in the world for sex-selective abortion. These figures are a serious call to action for each and every one of us.

Considering Azerbaijan is considerably conservative society, it clearly carries quite reputational risk. Attempts to bring women rights issues into public sphere for discussion had societal barriers that meant to be overcome. This perspective only could be reversed with familiar/internal elements such as local team which significant part of society supports.

To explain the problem to men in the language of men – one of the goals was to promote positive masculinity. So it involved men football team as messenger part of the campaign. It’s worth to mention that chosen club – Neftchi FC, long-established club with its traditional black-one jersey, to wore orange jersey for the campaign for one-match. Besides wearing the orange jersey, they also appeared and vocalized messages on the main video. At the end, the message was delivered through men as well.

Lack of men’s appearance on activism of women issues was considered as deficit in femvertising. So in response to that male-dominated group – men football team with biggest fan base was specifically used in order to appear more deeply and broadly to male segment of society. As a result, men (football players) also appeared more frequently in the key visual.

In collaboration with the biggest football club of the country, Neftchi FC, their kits were changed with Orange Jersey, together “Stop The Violence Against Women” message on it for one-match (the color orange represents a brighter future, free from violence against women and girls). In the promo video, football players condemned the violence against women. Key visuals from the promo video have been placed on Billboards, LED monitors in different parts of the city. TV channels broadly promoted our campaign – even TV presenters wore jersey during the show.

Campaigning about such women issues by involving the football club, the project achieved more and more men be aware of severity of violence against women. Since the campaign went unconventional path by sheding light on women issues through male-dominated culture, it drew high publicity in the national media. Statistically, we’re speaking about in a country with a population of ten million; 18 million media impression, 314k USD earned media, 2 million engagement. It also attracted supports of prominent journalists and celebrities.