The rise of #MeToo movement in 2017 inspired many feminists around the globe. Corporates are now part of the game as they try to address sexual harassment in their adverts. This has earned most companies a good name for using publicity for the greater good of society. Recently a Swiss beverage company in conjunction with Brazilian advertisement agency Ogilvy came up with a new campaign project dubbed ‘Dress for Respect’ that is aimed at highlighting the sexual harassment of women in Brazil.

‘Dress for Respect’ is a smart dress, designed with powerful sensors, that are triggered when the wearer is touched

Ogilvy -Via

The smart dress was designed to accurately sense where and when the wearer was touched. The campaign was initiated as a way to address issues of non-consensual public touching and sexual harassment.

According to statistics, an overwhelming 865 of Brazilian women have been harassed in clubs. Wolf whistling has been identified as the most common form of public harassment at (77%), followed by staring (74%), sexual comments were the least at (57%). Statistically, more than half of Brazilian women have experienced some form of unconsented physical harassment in the year 2016.
     

The video starts by showing the statistics of women harrased in Brazil

Ogilvy -Via

One interview video showed a man rhetorically asking “Who will go out on a Thursday night to just dance?” This probably implied that most women who go to nightclubs are looking for sexual partners instead of wanting to have a good time dancing. The other man comments that he thinks that women are “just whining…about everything!”.

The men interviewd in the video were skeptical at first

Ogilvy -Via

The video was shot afterward to show the issue of non-consensual public touching that has grown to become a public menace worldwide.

During the experiement, three women wore the dress to a club in Sao Paulo

Ogilvy -Via

Three Volunteers-Juliana, Tatiana and Luisa wore the dresses and went out clubbing. Every time they were groped signal was sent through WIFI to the researchers. The women were touched and groped despite their strong verbal disapproval. 

According to the data collected, the volunteers, in less than four hours, were touched 157 times

Ogilvy -Via

At the end of the footage, men who clubbed with the women were invited to watch the footage. They were so appalled by what went down in the club that one even exclaimed “That’s so ridiculous”