Mumbai: In a bid to counter rampant online harassment against women, Zing, the popular youth entertainment channel, launched its impactful Women's Day campaign, ‘#EmpowerNotEmbarrass’. The campaign went beyond the mere celebration of women's achievements; it challenged the status quo and advocated for a shift in people’s behaviour online. Zing firmly opposed the culture of trolling and negativity while iterating the importance of fostering a digital sphere free from harassment and abuse.
The #EmpowerNotEmbarrass campaign shed light on the harsh reality of how every eight out of ten women faced online harassment, often in the form of abuse, malicious gossip, trolling, and even threats of violence. The data paints a grim picture, as women face three times more abuse than men with cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Hyderabad reporting particularly high occurrences. As per surveys in 2023, nearly 83 per cent of those surveyed believed more actions needed to be taken to make it safer for women to use the internet. It is also observed that regardless of their profession or content style, women face trolling. It's not just limited to dance reels or entertainment; it affects all forms of content creation. Through this campaign, Zing endeavoured to initiate a positive transformation within society.
Zing has always advocated and supported a positive space for women, whether through its flagship show Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya, or the recently launched Snaackz video series featuring three up-and-coming content creators. For this Women’s Day, Zing rolled out a captivating video featuring women from different walks of life following their passion and expressing themselves, only to be met with comments of ridicule and hate. The video concluded with a resounding message, empowering women, and commemorating Women's Day with the ethos of Empower Not Embarrass. Additionally, Zing also asked its viewers on-air to pledge support through a vignette, by trolling the trollers with love and to comment using the hashtag #EmpowerNotEmbarrass to make a difference. The videos successfully resonated with the masses and garnered over 1.1M video plays, 935K reach across platforms. It also received 30% higher engagement as compared to other posts on Zing.
Talking about the campaign, Zing chief channel officer Pankaj Balhara said, "This Women's Day, we at Zing made a strong stand against online trolling directed towards women with the #EmpowerNotEmbarrass campaign. There are enough and more studies online on the current reality of trolling, Zing is trying to bring about a positive change in society through this initiative. We seek to educate society and convey the message, that the power to change lies within, they can make a difference and act towards this change.”
“The idea is to reduce the impact through positive comments, by doing so we can dilute the negativity on the timelines of women. To celebrate Women's Day, we asked our viewers and followers to support the #EmpowerNotEmbarrass movement to build a future where women are celebrated and respected both online and offline,” he further added.
