BellBajao! (Ring the Bell!)

The BellBajao! (Ring the Bell!) campaign, launched in India in 2008 by New Media of Breakthrough, is the first multimedia campaign to directly address men in the context of violence, previously a severe taboo in India, and to help men take ownership of interventions to effectively end domestic violence. BellBajao! calls upon men & boys alike to take action and renounce the role of perpetrator or spectator of violence towards women. Supported by an on-the-ground youth mobilization, the multimedia campaign has reached over 130 million people in India. BellBajao! takes a multi-dimensional approach, raising awareness about domestic violence in public service announcement ads aired on national television and radio, organizing gender and human rights training workshops, sending multimedia equipped video vans across the country and working online via prominent channels like Youtube and Vimeo. The BellBajao! blog is one of the few user-generated platforms that encourage the exchange of opinions, studies, experiences or personal stories on issues from gender and violence to sexuality, where virtual discussions sometimes spill over into grassroots action.  BellBajao! has won all the major advertising accolades, while its ads have been featured by YouTube on International Women’s Day. BellBajao! has shown that critical social media can take on petrified normative social values on a big scale, becoming a pioneering case study to be emulated.