Sephora Italia Raises Awareness on Recognising Early Signs of Gender-Based Violence

Violence against women is rooted in gender and relationship models based on control and emotional dependence: this is the starting point for the development of the awareness-raising campaign ‘Getting Ready’, ideated for Sephora Italia by creative agency LePub and directed by Juul Op den Kamp. The campaign was released on November 22nd on Sephora Italia platforms and took centre stage on TV and socials until November 25th,  with the aim of raising awareness on controlling behaviour as a real form of violence. 

Psychological violence manifests itself through constant and repeated behaviours aimed at controlling and subduing  the partner. When we talk about gender-based violence, the focus is often on the physical side. However, not enough  is said about the first signs of abusive behaviour, especially from a psychological point of view, which are mostly subtle.  

The objective of LePub and Sephora Italia’s ‘Getting Ready’ campaign is deliberately simple and direct: to encourage  awareness of what are called ‘Early Signs’, being the first signals of gender-based violence. Taking care of one's outward appearance, the way one dresses and wears make-up, are powerful means of  expressing one's identity and are often the subject of abusive controlling behaviour. Sephora believes in the right of  every woman to be able to express herself freely and has once again decided to turn the spotlight on this issue through  a campaign with a strong emotional impact.

“‘Getting Ready’ faces the theme of psychological violence and control in gender relations, with the aim of raising  awareness on the importance of recognizing the first controlling signals from the partner as real forms of abuse. We  wanted to focus attention on these behaviors, which are often invisible, ignored, minimized, but deeply damaging,  so those who experience or witness them can recognize the signs and ask for help.” commented Fenisia Cilli, marketing director, Sephora Italia. She continued, “For years, Sephora Italia has been supporting a collective awareness-raising  process with the aim of building a society in which all women of all ages feel safe and free to express themselves, without fear of judgement or abuse. We do this in a very concrete way alongside Pangea ETS Foundation, to offer  support to all women victims of violence, with protection and new opportunities”. 

“The topic addressed in this campaign is a sensitive one, unfortunately of a tragic relevance that cannot leave us  indifferent. Signs of violence must be scrupulously observed, properly recognised and promptly interrupted. It starts  with a comment, continues with an insult and finally culminates in a concrete act, a dramatic phenomenon that we  are forced to read about every day in our newspapers. This is why it is absolutely necessary to act and talk about it:  if our message reaches and supports even one person, we will have achieved something of absolute value and great  importance,” commented Francesco Poletti, chief creative officer, LePub Milan.

The film opens with a scene of a young woman getting ready to go out, following her desire to take care, like, enjoy  herself, getting ready for her date. She happily loses herself in this ‘Getting Ready’, in her private, free and spontaneous  space. We see her expressing herself in playful, creative gestures and funny, self-conscious expressions. In a climax  of self-expression and joyful experimentation, suddenly, we hear the sound of a horn and from the window we see  that her partner has arrived. She is suddenly brought back to reality. She changes clothes, quickly removes traces of  make-up and goes out to greet her boyfriend in a very different version of herself: subdued, controlled, vulnerable.  She suffers a ‘controlling’ look that she faces with tension. Like many women in similar situations, she is not fully aware of how toxic this aspect of her relationship is.  

The film closes on the importance of recognising controlling signals and behaviour by one's partner as early signs of  violence and with a call to action to ask for help from the Pangea ETS Foundation, Sephora Italia's partner for gender based violence issues.