Unilever’s Joko Tea Encourages Public to Donate Their Voice to Break the Silence around Domestic Violence

The campaign is part of the brand’s End Domestic Silence drive to encourage the nation to break its silence about gender-based violence

The Hardy Boys, Wunderman Thompson’s South African partner agency, has launched a campaign to support Unilever’s Joko tea brand on its mission to end the silence around domestic violence.

Joko’s #DonateYourVoice campaign encourages South African celebrities, influencers, the general public and TV and radio presenters to read out stories from survivors of gender-based violence. This is part of the purpose-driven tea brand’s End Domestic Silence drive that encourages the nation to break its silence about gender-based violence (GBV) and focus on the appalling state of domestic abuse in South Africa. 

The public can support the campaign by visiting the Joko website where they can record themselves telling a survivor story. 

Meanwhile, celebrity-voiced stories are being broadcast through TV, radio, social media and digital. During the campaign, news presenters including radio DJs on Metro FM and Radio 2000 and poet Lebo Mashile read survivors’ stories, with Mashile’s ads airing on South Africa’s most watched news TV channel, eNCA.  

Also voicing survivors’ stories are South African actress Brumilda van Rensburg and successful businesswoman Lynette Ntuli. 

Joko’s campaign was developed in partnership with South African NGO and women’s’ rights advocates POWA, People Opposing Woman Abuse. It is based on the insight that all too often, the real-life human stories of abuse are overshadowed by the horrific statistics. The campaign is running to ensure these stories are heard, and comes after an increase in GBV during the COVID pandemic as women have been confined indoors with abusive family members and partner. 

Geoff Paton, chief creative officer of The Hardy Boys says: “It's a huge privilege for us to be part of this campaign on behalf of Joko and POWA. We’ve been humbled and inspired by the strength of survivors in telling their stories. We hope that they will make a difference in bringing more awareness to such an important issue, while helping other victims of domestic violence to know there is hope and help at hand.”

Coinciding with 16 Days of Activism, an annual global UN campaign to end violence towards women and girls, #DonateyourVoice runs from 25th November to 10th December. At the end of the current campaign, The Hardy Boys plans to create a compilation of voices collected during the campaign mashed together to read a survivor poem. There is also a plan to create an exhibition of survivors’ portraits. 

Since being appointed lead agency for Joko tea in 2019, The Hardy Boys agency has helped the tea brand in its social mission to harness the power of conversations to help reduce domestic violence. Joko provides strong-flavoured, high-quality tea. Conversations started over a cup of Joko can inspire women to find their voice of strength and speak up and speak out against domestic abuse.