#DefyTheName
Monica Lewinsky / Anti- Bullying
Issue 49 | December 2018
Agency
BBDO New York
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer Worldwide David Lubars Chief Creative Officer New York Greg Hahn Executive Creative Directors Danilo Boer, Marcos Kotlhar Creative Director Bianca Guimaraes Associate Creative Director Roberto Danino
Production Team
David Rolfe Executive Producer George Sholley Producer Jack Patrick Music Producer Julia Millison Production Company O Positive Director Brian Billow
Other Credits
Planning Director Karin Santiago Senior Comms Planner Julie Naidu Senior Analyst Marketing Science Crystal Lin Account Team Lindsey Cash, Carrie White, Jackie Silver, Jordan Ji Creator Partnerships Manager Lucy Bennett Editorial Company Number 6 Dini Von Mueffling Communications Founder and CEO Dini von Mueffling Account Executive Daniel Lempert
Date
October 2018
Background
Shame and isolation are two of the most damaging emotional effects of bullying.
Anti-bullying activist Monica Lewinsky and a coalition of twelve anti-bullying organisations wanted to create a sense of community so that those being bullied would know that they were not alone.
Idea
Unfortunately, what bullies say to their victims cannot be changed or undone but something can be done about how the targets of bullying feel about themselves.
The insight was to disarm bullies of their most common tactic: name calling.
The #DefyTheName campaign kicked off with a film showing that some of the most successful people in America had also been called horrible names, but they had risen above it to become the people they were.
The film was the start of a campaign that grew into an online movement, encouraging people to add their bullied names to their display names on social media.
Monica Lewinsky started this herself by changing her Twitter name on live television.
Soon after, many celebrities, influencers, and thousands of people did the same, reinforcing the key message of the campaign: you are not alone and the names you’re called don’t define you.
Results
#DefyTheName trended on Twitter the day of the launch. Within the first two weeks, the campaign received over 510 million unique impressions. It got covered by over 437 publications and news outlets, including Forbes, The Washington Post, CNN, ABC News, USA Today, Vanity Fair, People Magazine, and Fast Company. Most importantly, it got people to defy the name.
Our Thoughts
Monica Lewinsky has been called more names than most and by some well-known people, who really should have known better.
I call her brave, admirable, inspiring.
It must have given solace to many younger people when she was able to appear on live TV being so self-deprecating and changing her own Facebook handle to ‘Monica Chunky Slut Stalker That Woman’, In my time I’ve been called a few unpleasant things too. Stick your head above the parapet in social media and you’re asking to get peppered with insults. But you can either let it get to you or you can use the abuse to sharpen your ambitions. Call me a loser and I’ll set out to prove you wrong. And it doesn’t half help to know that people like John Oliver were once called ‘loser’ too.