YWCA
Six-Second Ambush Advisories

The Goal

The YWCA wanted young people to think critically about video content they were watching online and to bring awareness to their Culture Shift Project, which aims to shift attitudes and practices that perpetuate sexualization of women. Since the YWCA is a non-profit organization, it needed to achieve this in the most cost-effective way possible.

The Insight

Sexualization is rampant within music videos and when viewers internalize these messages, troubling behaviours arise. Research indicates that sexualization and hypermasculinization not only impacts mental health and relationships, it contributes to a society that is permissive towards violence against women. Despite the destructive nature of these objectifying visuals, YouTube music videos, unlike video content in other channels, doesn’t warn about a video’s suitability for certain audiences. In advance of YouTube music videos, pre-roll ads simply compensate the creator and distributor of each exploitive video.

YouTube reaches more 18 to 26-year-olds than any cable network, and the most viewed content on the platform is music videos. Without a rating system that warns about the content’s suitability for certain audiences, there’s nothing probing young people to think critically about the content they’re choosing to watch. Since YouTube doesn’t warn viewers about sexually provocative content, YWCA did it for them.

The Target

The Six-Second Ambush Advisories campaign was launched in 2017 during the week preceding Women’s Equality Day, and ran from Aug.19 to Aug.26. It targeted male and female Canadian millennials between the ages of 18 and 26.

The Plan

The agency disguised the YWCA’s warnings to look like the industry’s standard rating systems that appear in advance of movie trailers. To deliver these messages, the team tapped into YouTube’s advanced ad targeting tools to run six-second pre-roll warnings before music videos that objectify women. The unskippable format of YouTube’s six-second bumper ads also meant that YWCA Ambush Advisories could not be ignored by viewers.

By mimicking content warnings, YWCA Ambush Advisories appeared as though they were part of the content they preceded, influencing how the music videos were perceived by young viewers and warning them about the calibre of sexualization they were about to watch. To ensure the campaign was received on a wider scale, the team amplified its message by using the innovative six-second ads to gain the attention of the press. Once the press was interested in the campaign, the in-house brand journalist collaborated with the YWCA to flesh out additional story points that helped this cause gain traction with some of the largest publications in the country.

The Results

The YWCA Six-Second Ambush Advisories campaign received a universally positive reception, making the front page of national news outlets and receiving coverage across major TV, web and radio outlets, in English and Chinese. It was applauded for being an innovative, small-scale media campaign that gave the YWCA a prominent voice to discuss shifting the attitudes and practices that sexualize females of all ages in popular media. Its connection with Women’s Equality Day demonstrated that in the age of online media, women’s equality is more important now than ever. To date, it has been recognized internationally with a One Show Merit and nationally with a Gold Marketing Award, two Silver Atomic Awards, Bronze Atomic Award and a Judges’ Pick at the 2018 So(cial) Good Design Awards.