My Choices Foundation launches ‘Mothers Without A Choice’ via Dentsu Impact India
While the world was busy celebrating Mother’s Day during this COVID-19 lockdown with mushy photos, cute videos and beautiful cards, Dentsu Impact India revealed a darker truth which was being ignored.
There are thousands of women who have been forced to become mothers as a result of this lockdown in their so-called ‘safe’ places called homes. With no choice and no way out, they face a future, which has been thrust upon them.
To raise awareness about this issue, Dentsu Impact, the creative agency from Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) India and My Choices Foundation, released ‘Mothers Without A Choice’, a digital video which puts the spotlight on one of the biggest and yet, least understood causalities of this COVID pandemic lockdown. The video shows women staring at the camera, unable to speak a word. But despite the silence, what we see is anger, angst and suffocation. The sound design was to enhance the pain that these women have to endure. We hear the claustrophobic pain these women from various walks of life go through every day. The voice over is meant to be their inner voice pleading for us to help them and prevent them from becoming mothers by force.
Elca Grobler, Founder, My Choices Foundation said, “The video, from the opening, makes anyone who watches it feel unsettled. The agonizing voice of the victims sends chills down one’s spine, and it evokes a sense of torment. It is brilliant in captivating the intensity of the affliction brought onto the victims by their abusers. This leaves one infuriated and with a feeling of disgust at what vulnerable women have to endure. Although it is extremely difficult to fully know the pain that these women go through, it sends across an immensely strong message – let us not be silent! We feel fortunate to be able to help victims by providing access to our national toll-free helpline number. Each one who reaches out to us, will be referred to one of our counsellors to assist and intervene in the sexual abuse, as well as connect them with the nearest police station.”
Anupama Ramaswamy, National Creative Director, Dentsu Impact added, “We used Mother’s Day as the setting for this communication. The reason being, while the world wants hope and celebration during the lockdown, some women are dreading every single day of it. This lockdown is nothing less than a living hell for them. The prediction of 7 million unwanted pregnancies is alarming. If we cannot help these women, we would be doing nothing to stop 7 million innocent children from being born into unhappy households. With this communication, we aim to make people and authorities recognise the fear with which these women live. And give them a chance to live life on their terms.”
Credits
Client: My Choices Foundation
President – Amit Wadhwa
CCO – Soumitra Karnik
National Creative Director – Anupama Ramaswamy
Group Creative Director – Monish Gupta
Creative Director (ART) – Priyanka Dandia
Chief Film Officer – Suprotim Day
Agency Producers – Dawa Lama, Kriti Khandelwal
Production House – Fusion Films
Executive Producers: Allan Dsouza, Geeta Laxman
Music Director: Sameer Uddin
Marketing Producer: Melvin Sylvester
Sound Engineer: Ninad Lad
Offline /Post producer: Debjan Basu
Casting: Shikha Pradeep Casting
Online: Harsh Saraiya
