White House and creative agency Mekanism unveiled “It’s On Us” – a sexual assault awareness campaign

The White House and creative agency Mekanism unveiled “It’s On Us” – a sexual assault awareness campaign with a special focus on engaging men in the fight against the problem.

Working closely with the White House and a number of outside partners, Mekanism, an advertising agency that specializes in reaching millennials, developed the “It’s On Us” campaign’s concept, creative, and design. Mekanism focused on developing a campaign that would enable the audience to immediately get involved and participate.

“It’s On Us” uses social media, celebrity public service commercials, print and online advertising, on-campus events, and partnerships with colleges and private partners with reach among college students to attempt to create a culture where sexual assault is unacceptable and survivors are supported. A new website, www.itsonus.org hosts a pledge that visitors can take to commit to help keep women and men safe from sexual assault. After signing the pledge, users can get a badge on Facebook or Twitter that incorporates the “It’s On Us” logo with their own profile photo.

 

Also, several major celebs have signed on for the campaign, including President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Jon Hamm, Joel McHale, Kerry Washington, Rose Byrne, Questlove, Common, Randy Jackson, Mayam Bialik and more.

Mekanism worked with The Mill and Park Pictures on the campaigns PSAs, and with 14Four to develop the website. The campaign is the beginning of a movement to create a sea of change in how we handle sexual assault. As strategic media outreach partner for It’s On Us, PVBLIC aggregated donations totaling over 1BN media impressions nationwide, including reach to nearly 700 college and university campuses. The not-for-profit Generation Progress is a partner to the White House in tackling the issue of sexual assault on college campuses.

Since the beginning of the current Obama Administration, the President and Vice President have made it a priority to root out sexual violence wherever it exists, especially in US schools. In April 2011, Vice President Biden and the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, introduced comprehensive guidance to help colleges and universities nationwide better understand their obligations under federal civil rights laws to prevent and respond to sexual assault on campus.

Building on those efforts, in January 2014, the President and Vice President established the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault.  The Task Force has since worked to assist schools in preventing sexual assault and to provide practical tools to help. Today’s announcement is a critical part of the Administration’s work to prevent sexual assault, but it is not the final step.  Our efforts to improve enforcement, transparency, and accountability will continue.

In April, after 27 listening sessions with stakeholders across the country, the Task Force launched the 1is2many PSA aimed at spreading the word that one victim is too many and released the “Not Alone” report to help empower and equip student and administrative bodies to better understand and more effectively tackle the issue. The report included action steps, recommendations, and best practices in four key areas namely identifying the scope of problem through campus climate surveys, preventing campus sexual assault and engaging men, helping schools respond effectively when a student is assaulted and improving, and making more transparent, the US federal government’s enforcement efforts .

The newly launched campaign aims to advance the goal of preventing sexual assault and seeks to engage college students and all members of campus communities in preventing sexual assault in the first place. The campaign is being launched in partnership with the Center for American Progress’ Generation Progress, along with student body leadership from nearly 200 colleges and universities across the country, collegiate sports organizations such as the NCAA, and private companies that have strong connections with students at colleges and universities.

“It’s On Us” aims to fundamentally shift the way people think about sexual assault, by inspiring everyone to see it as their responsibility to do something, big or small, to prevent it. The campaign reflects the belief that sexual assault isn’t just an issue involving a crime committed by a perpetrator against a victim, but one in which the rest of us also have a role to play.

Most men are not comfortable with violence against women, but often don’t speak out because they believe that other men accept this behavior. By getting men involved, this way of thinking can be changed and new social norms can be created.

“It’s On Us” is a critical step forward in the Administration’s multi-prolonged approach to combat sexual assault that includes improved enforcement of federal laws and practical help for schools. This campaign will complement efforts schools should be undertaking to hold perpetrators accountable and assist students who have experienced sexual assault. As part of this ongoing approach, on Friday the Task Force also released three new best practices documents that can help colleges and universities improve their response to sexual assault, available at NotAlone.gov.The partners of “It’s on us” campaign are both public and private and include Center for American Progress, Generation Progress, student body leaders at colleges and universities, NCAA, Electronic Arts, PVBLIC Foundation, Mekanism, The American Association of University Women (AAUW), Viacom and Participant Media

“It’s On Us” partners include Atlantic Coast Conference, Atlantic 10, Big Ten, Big Twelve, Clear Channel – iHeart Radio, College Humor, Conversant Media, Everfi, Men Can Stop Rape, Microsoft – Bing, National Campus Leadership Council, National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, Newsweek, National Women’s Law Center, On Campus Media, Only With Consent, Our Time, Pac 12, Park Pictures, PVBLIC, RAINN, SB Nation, The Mill, Tumblr, Ultraviolet, USA Characters Unite, United States Olympic Committee, Verifone Media and Viacom, which includes VH1, MTV, BET, CMT, and Spike.

The credits for It’s On Us campaign are available here.