To celebrate 2021 International Women's Day, PR firm Blue Totem Communications helped beauty and skincare giant L'Oréal reaffirm its commitment to celebrate and empower all women with its #YouDeserveBetter anti-domestic violence campaign in Singapore
Family violence has become a more pressing issue since the COVID-19 pandemic started. Many domestic violence survivors may have become more socially isolated from friends, family, and neighbours and suffer in silence. Domestic violence is also stigmatised in Singapore, making it even harder for those experiencing violence at home to seek help.
For half a century, L'Oréal has stood for beauty and empowerment. It stands in solidarity with the brave survivors of domestic violence in Singapore who deserve better. The brand believes that beauty and self-care can empower women and that it is an important part of the healing journey of domestic violence survivors.
On the 8th of March 2021, International Women’s Day, public relations agency Blue Totem Communications helped L'Oréal launch its #YouDeserveBetter campaign to create public awareness of anti-domestic violence and make a difference in the lives of women survivors. We hoped that survivors would feel encouraged to speak out against the violence they 2endured and rebuild their confidence with broader public support.
Meaningful partnerships for social impact
L'Oréal partnered with United Women Singapore (UWS), a local non-profit organisation that advances women’s empowerment and gender equality, to connect with community partners that support domestic violence victims across Singapore. With a shared interest to help domestic violence survivors, L'Oréal and UWS came together with the community to bring L'Oréal’s #YouDeserveBetter campaign to life, a tangible way of showing these women that they deserve better.
With the help of UWS’s experience in women empowerment initiatives and its vast network of partners, Blue Totem Communications packaged and delivered 2,000 self-care kits from L'Oréal to beneficiaries in shelters and homes across Singapore. L’Oréal carefully curated these beauty and grooming kits to help encourage courageous domestic violence survivors and reinstill their confidence through self-care. UWS also distributed L'Oréal’s self-care kits to its network of women empowerment supporters to thank them for their efforts.
Wanting to break the silence surrounding domestic violence, Blue Totem Communications collaborated with UWS, beauty and lifestyle social media influencers and local media publications to openly discuss this critical social issue.
We worked with highly popular media house Mothership to reach a young and attuned audience interested in local stories and social issues. Mothership featured an inspiring story of a domestic violence survivor in Singapore who is committed to helping those experiencing violence at home to break free or seek help and encouraging others to lend a helping hand to survivors in need.
Influencer engagement was also crucial to growing awareness of domestic violence response in the digital realm. Beauty and lifestyle influencers with strong women empowerment values were eager to spread the word about the anti-violence cause. They also encouraged their followers to speak out against domestic violence and share ways to identify and help those experiencing violence at home. Followers who commented or shared messages that advocated anti-domestic violence and responses received L'Oréal’s self-care kits as a token of thanks.
Opening up about a serious social issue
L'Oréal’s International Women’s Day #YouDeserveBetter campaign sparked open and honest conversations in Singapore about domestic violence, a topic usually avoided because of social stigma.
14 media and social media influencers advocated the #YouDeserveBetter campaign on websites, Instagram, and Facebook, reaching a total of 3.5 million people! Notably, Singapore’s Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao, and international news website Yahoo! published stories about the initiative. Singaporean actress and radio presenter Shamini Gunasagar also pitched in to drum up awareness of the cause on social media.
The Mothership profile feature was viewed by more than 100,000 people and had close to 1,000 likes and comments, which were mostly positive and uplifting.
Throughout the month of March, we saw people in Singapore share questions and comments about the challenges faced by survivors when leaving situations of violence in their lives and words of encouragement for all domestic violence survivors. Other survivors came forward to share how they managed to overcome similar hardships and encouraged others to do the same. Influencers even had a few friends and acquaintances reach out privately to confide about their trauma and experiences, some of which they have never told anyone before.
L'Oréal’s International Women’s Day #YouDeserveBetter influencer engagement and public relations campaign inspired open, meaningful conversations across various digital platforms. It was heartening to witness people in Singapore banding together to help break the silence behind domestic violence and remind those who are suffering that they do deserve better.
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