The Mayor of London’s office has just launched a follow-up to its 2022 campaign telling men to ‘have a word’ with themselves and other men who are behaving problematically towards women.

Created by Ogilvy, the new campaign uses similarly colloquial language, this time asking men to ‘say maaate to a mate’ if they witness misogynistic behaviour. It draws on research that found young men feel they don’t know how to intervene or what to say when they do see that kind of behaviour, even among friends or family.

The campaign film was directed by Koby Adom, best known for his work on Top Boy and the BBC’s adaptation of Noughts + Crosses, and centres on a group of young men having a casual conversation at home which takes a misogynistic turn. It comes with an interactive feature in the form of a ‘skip ad’ style button, developed in partnership with Vimeo, enabling viewers to interject and change the course of the conversation, which has 270 different possible variants.

“We spent hours observing and interacting with men in male-dominated spaces – from bars and barbershops to the barbell section of gyms – in order to truly understand the male psyche in relation to tackling misogyny and sexism,” says David Fanner, a consultant at Ogilvy’s behaviour science wing.

“This diligence enabled us to uncover a completely new approach to the fight against misogyny. We found that men don’t want to shame or ostracise their mates, they want to call them out with respect and levity,” he continues. “This insight sits at the heart of our ‘say maaate’ approach, which we are confident will empower men to challenge inappropriate behaviour in an effective way. A solution like this can only be truly successful when you have the rigour behind it.”

The concept was introduced earlier this year by comedian Romesh Ranganathan, and is being promoted across a LadBible collaboration, social media, and influencer partnerships. The campaign also includes OOH billboards and flyposters, featuring a Printworks-style design that will hopefully catch the attention of young men in London, who appear to be the main target of the campaign.

Credits:
Agency: Ogilvy/Hogarth
ECDs: Nicola Wood, Andy Forrest
Senior Creatives: Ian Brassett, Dave Anderson
Designers: Dom Flaherty, Joe Glover
Director: Koby Adom
Production Company: RSA