Online harassment targeting female gamers is pervasive, and despite efforts by the gaming industry to implement guidelines and safeguards, it’s evident that more action is needed to effect lasting change. Startling research commissioned by Maybelline New York reveals that 76% of female gamers have encountered or witnessed harassment or offensive behavior while gaming online. Alarmingly, 71% of male gamers choose to ignore instances of abuse in gaming.
Building on the success of its acclaimed Through Their Eyes campaign, Maybelline New York Australia refocuses its efforts on combating the toxic behavior aimed at female gamers. This initiative is exemplified in a new social experiment video titled “Under the Avatar,” produced by HERO.
Last year, the Through Their Eyes campaign reached almost 450M impressions globally, garnering interest from United Nations Women who stated it was “…difficult to watch, but shows we have a long way to go”. The campaign saw male gamers put in the firing line of verbal abuse and harassment, by using tech to change their voices and insert them into a multiplayer game appearing as the opposite sex. Resulting in an astounding display of abuse, the video highlighted an urgent need to take further action.
Australian independent agency HERO produced an emotion-provoking video that acts as a call to arms, today launching Under the Avatar, in which two females are shown to experience alarming verbal abuse whilst in a multiplayer game. In the video, their unknowing friends’ reactions are shown as they witness the harassment, not knowing how they can help. The initiative acts as a reminder that there is a real person on the other side of the game, and abuse can target a friend, partner, sister or daughter.
This year, Maybelline New York aims to give gamers the tools to stand up for others experiencing toxic behaviour in-game and support those who have experienced abuse, as according to the research study, 59% of female-identifying gamers leave the game they are playing to get away from offensive or discriminatory behaviour*.
“We wanted to generate more than just empathy for those suffering from toxic abuse in the gaming world. We wanted anyone thinking that this behavior is tolerable to realise that there is a real human behind the avatar, and to give people the tools to stand up to online abuse,” says Maybelline New York, ANZ Marketing Director Melanie Bower.
Says Shane Geffen, executive creative director, HERO: “The mindset towards verbal abuse in the gaming world is proving difficult to shift, despite the large reach of the first campaign and concerted efforts by others to change the game. For this campaign we tried a different approach, to show gamers who they are really hurting, real human beings that are family, partners and friends.”
This year’s campaign, Under the Avatar, goes live Thursday March 14 and sees the continuation of partnership with youth mental health organisation ReachOut (AU) and the addition of Youthline (NZ) as part of its long-standing Brave Together global mental health initiatives.
