The Brief

There are 24 million child brides in India. That's 40% of the world's child brides. Despite that, in October 2013, India rejected the UN's first-ever global resolution to fight child marriage. Shocking? No! But, this news failed to capture any attention. So, Child Survival India, an NGO based in New Delhi wanted to end this indifference. But they couldn't afford a mass media campaign. Our strategy was to pique the interest of Indians but through art and fashion. Our goal was to change and educate one place at a time and spark conversations about child marriage.

Creative Execution

The scale of the travelling installation, the simplicity of wearing a small white dot on one's forehead (a white bindi) and being a part of the solution, instantly drew a lot of people to the campaign. Because it's a little tweak on a popular cultural symbol, it easily sparked more awareness, conversations and small donations towards ending child marriages- a social evil that has otherwise always been brushed under the carpet in India.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

Because every married Indian woman wears a red bindi (a red dot on the forehead). We decided to go to the masses and launch a peaceful movement against child marriage; with a white bindi (a white dot). To kickstart it, we made an art installation with 39000 white bindis, because 39000 girls become child brides every day. Wherever it travelled, it made people aware of the evils of child marriage. It urged them to wear a white bindi to spread awareness and raise donations that fuel Child Survival India to conduct awareness drives for girls in 160 Indian villages.

Results

In just 45 days, the white bindi garnered 22 million impressions, 32 articles in national dailies, received 4,904 likes and sparked conversations about child marriage. - It managed to sell 60,000+ white bindis - Initiated 1.5 million college volunteers - Gathered support from celebrites - Most importantly, all the money and awareness we have raised; is helping Child Survival India in conducting awareness workshops in 160 Indian villages. All this was generated without any media spend. In fact, the only money spent, was on buying 1,00,000 white bindis, which was just 7000 rupees (83 euros).