Powerful Domestic Violence Campaign Highlights the Stark Reality That All Women Share

More than two in five women in Canada will face domestic violence in their lifetime but many women feel that a shelter isn’t for them. Not only are they held back from seeking support because of the sense of shame associated with acknowledging abuse, but also because of preconceived ideas of what shelters are and what they offer. Many people believe shelters are only for women suffering from physical abuse and that they are institutional environments for emergency housing only.

This campaign from lg2 sought to reach women living with domestic violence, and anyone who knows a woman who may be experiencing violence at home, and show that women's shelters offer a wide range of services remotely and don’t require in-person visits to access them.

More Than is the campaign platform developed to improve understanding of the support available through the women’s shelter system in Canada and to increase traffic and engagement at Sheltersafe.ca. OOH ads acted as more than just ads, directing women to Sheltersafe.ca to connect them to shelter services via QR codes. Social and digital media channels were used to dimensionalise the definition of domestic violence, showing how it can be more than physical, educating and breaking down a key barrier to shelter access.

Lise Martin, executive director, Women’s Shelters Canada, says: “In our first national awareness campaign, we needed to call attention to the fact that shelters and transition houses are “more than” shelter. The campaign’s centrepiece, the 60-second PSA, showcased a reality that all women share—the lengths we go to just to get home safely and that not all of those women are safe once they get there.”