We aimed to create an idea that would attempt to nip violence in the bud. And we chose to do it by raising awareness about this majorly misinterpreted and misused ‘light tap’ from religious verses in Islam.

We wanted to show how what they think is a ‘light tap’ could actually escalate into and lead to something far more damaging.

Social media enjoys 100% penetration in Dubai and in the UAE. And instagram is the most popular social media channel.

Approach: Use Instagram stories - Usually we associate this very popular social media feature with slideshows of our friends’ undeniably average cooking skills, travel diaries or a night out we were not invited to. Our Instagram story, however, defied all expectations and was designed to shock.

Idea: We turned Instagram stories’ ‘tap’ feature as a tool against domestic abuse, based on a very prevalent yet absolutely untapped misuse of religion.

We showed how a light tap can escalate, when misused, through the story of a young woman on Instagram.

Through a woman’s profile (@lifeof_farah), we followed men as they were drawn to visit her profile on Instagram and uncover her Instagram story by tapping on the Play button.

Then, as they tapped through her Instagram story, they experienced the damage the abuse was causing her, one tap at a time.

Using the tap mechanism on Instagram Stories, we shot and developed 4 frames of a young woman; each in an escalated stage of physical abuse.

With every tap on screen, her face became more bruised; showing the lasting damage each tap can cause if this violence wasn’t nipped in the bud.

To amplify the campaign, we tagged influential men, and got them to support our message by sharing the story with their followers.

While correcting a misuse of a religious verse, we also educated people.

Popular female influencers and activists endorsed and shared the story too. For example, within a few hours of the idea going live, the host of “Project Runway Middle East”, Jessica Kahawaty (@jessicakahawaty), endorsed the message and the story.

Men and women globally spoke about the issue.

Popular local media channels (such as ScoopEmpire, Arabian marketer, Think Marketing Magazine and many others) endorsed our message.

We even got endorsements from Instagram.

Importantly:

1 - 82% of men surveyed stated they agreed that a light tap wasn’t an excuse vs. 64% in 2016. (Source: UAE News)

2 - 124,000+ men shared the idea on social media to support the message. (Source: UAE News)

3 - 39% drop in cases reported in January to April 2017 after this campaign has spread, compared to the same period in 2016. (Source: UAE News)

Physically abusing a woman is prohibited in every religion. Yet, in Islam, many men intentionally misuse phrases from religion as a justification for domestic violence.

“If you want your wife’s attention, you may get it with a ‘light tap’. But, it should not hurt her.” (Religious verse in Islam)

The verse (with what precedes and what follows) very clearly implies tapping to get attention; like you would tap the shoulder or the back of a friend or a colleague.

But unfortunately, some men use this ‘light tap’ as an excuse to hit and hurt their wives. 64% of men surveyed stated they agreed that a ‘light tap’ wasn’t an excuse. 36% felt it was justified. 36%. Imagine.

DFWAC has previously encouraged women to speak up against domestic violence.

Now, we wanted men to understand that domestic violence wasn’t acceptable.

The Dubai Foundation for Women and Children (DFWAC) is the first licensed non-profit shelter in the UAE for women and children victims of domestic violence.

Now, a significant proportion of abuses involved people who were Muslims. In a progressive, balanced Muslim country like the UAE, that upholds women in high regard (following Islam that preaches being kind to women) and empowers as well as recognizes women across society, domestic violence against women was an unfortunate and unacceptable occurrence.

To appeal to a younger demographic and nip violence in the bud, we wanted to use "social media on mobile" (the most popular media channel with youth in the country) and create an idea that would engage men on social media, creating awareness and conversations that would help reduce the incidence of domestic violence.