Top designers from Kering, the luxury powerhouse that owns brands including Gucci, Saint Laurent, and Balenciaga, have teamed up for the sixth edition of their White Ribbon Campaign, which seeks to raise awareness of violence against women around the world.
The campaign imagines Stella McCartney, Christopher Kane, Joseph Altuzarra, Gucci’s Alessandro Michele, and actress Salma Hayek as potential victims of gender-based violence, using the hashtag #ICouldHaveBeen.
“Girls and women account for 71% of human trafficking victims,” reads the statistic below McCartney’s face. “1 in 3 girls and women worldwide experience violence,” says one next to Michele.
The idea is to break the silence surrounding violence against women and remind people that, yes, even in the year 2017, women still face tremendous inequality in everything from physical safety to professional opportunities. As
“My sisterTammyand I were raised as equals,” explains Kane in a press release. “Today there are lots of labels that are used to define us. We should be all seen as equal, given the same opportunities. ”
“We, as women, are a team, we have to support each other and stick together. Men are showing their support, and now, we must all join forces. I am confident that the younger generation of women and men will use theirvoice,” agrees McCartney.
At ICouldHaveBeen. org, male visitors are encouraged to enter their name to see what it might have been if they were born female. For women, you can simply enter “her,” in solidarity with the many anonymous “hers” around the world who do not enjoy the same rights as men. The site will then prompt you to upload a picture of yourself in order to generate an #ICouldHaveBeen image like the ones in the campaign.
Kering is specifically targeting members of Generations Z and Y, which may explain the social media-savvy strategy. And despite the fact that the campaign debuted today, people have already begun uploading their images to Instagram.
“We all could have been born a girl,” saidKering’s chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault in a statement. “Being born a girl, should not equate to a higher risk of violence. Yet unfortunately, it is the case in our world today. We all must take on this combat. ”
