Bell campaign wins at Cannes

The Bell Bajao! Campaign, helmed by NGO Breakthrough, has won the Silver Lion in the Film Category at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival 2010 this week.

The Bell Bajao! Campaign, helmed by NGO Breakthrough, has won the Silver Lion in the Film Category at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival 2010 this week. Started in 2008, with the support of campaign ambassador, Boman Irani, and the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Bell Bajao! became a national movement.

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Men at work
“We have been working on curbing domestic violence for a decade, but awareness is still limited,” says Sonali Khan of Breakthrough. The campaign’s survey revealed that 60 per cent people who took action, were men. “When the Protection of Women From Domestic Violence law was passed, we knew there was a legal solution, but we needed a social solution too. We’re looking at involving men in a more proactive way,” asserts Khan, explaining why the videos have men ringing the bell.

Only winner

When the man rings the bell, he doesn’t say that he can hear the violence. The message is — intervene. "We wanted people to ring the bell and they did," Khan smiles. The Silver Lion is India’s only achievement in the Film category among the five entries. The pro-bono films were created by Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) and were directed by Bauddhayan Mukherjee of Little Lamb Films. Khan says, "We don’t pay Ogilvy. This is the second campaign they’ve done for us." O&M Chairman Piyush Pandey received the award.