Mumbai: C Com Digital, the popular digital agency based out of Mumbai has made it big at the prestigious 10th IAMAI India Digital Awards under the ‘Best Digital Integrated Campaign’ category of 2020, for its immensely popular campaign #WhySufferSilently. The campaign, on behalf of Blue Cross Laboratories, aimed to break the myths and taboo around intense period pain medically known as Dysmenorrhea commonly seen in young adolescent girls and women, and educate women on the necessity of seeking medical help, has got an overwhelming response from the netizens. The award ceremony was held at the India Digital Summit on 5-6 February 2020, at The Lalit, New Delhi.
Launched last year, the social awareness campaign #WhySufferSilently spread like wildfire, with the series of campaign videos reaching 2,000,000 views across platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It also inaugurated an informative, user-focused and graphically intuitive website painfulperiod.com having infographics, leaflets, posters, emailers, gifts and emojis available for download and sending, besides having on-ground awareness initiatives. The online education materials on symptoms, severity and treatment of dysmenorrhea, aimed to make girls and women aware of hygienic washroom habits during periods, also inspired boys and men to spread the awareness further through Vox pop videos.
Period or menstruation being still a taboo in majority of households in India, young girls and women are made to bear with its sufferings. They are taught not to disclose or discuss about issues like excessive period pains, nausea or severe cramps and learn to take it as a normal biological scenario. In the process, period hampers their personal and professional growth by deterring girls and women from going to school or workplaces, taking part in sports or physical activities and performing household chores. But though period is normal, severe pains or related sufferings known as dysmenorrhea are not normal and can lead to more serious disorders like endometriosis, PCOD, ovarian cysts, adenomyosis etc. when left untreated. Thus, seeking medical help is absolutely necessary, which is unfortunately not followed in maximum Indian families. This is exactly the point, where the campaign #WhySufferSilently hits its audiences, targeting to educate and make them aware of the medical need in painful periods and break the age-old taboos.
The campaign got an overwhelming response in its first phase, where the videos showcased girls and women speaking up about their sufferings and spreading awareness about seeking medical help. Under the campaign, on-ground awareness initiatives like distributing pamphlets, posters, conducting camps at school and workplaces, educating mothers, teachers and HR of organizations, making men pledge for the cause as well as arranging medical help,also received widespread popularity. Going by the huge success, the second phase of the social awareness campaign with a short film #BreakTheCheatChainwas launched, featuring women across three generations narrating the mental agony of a teenage girl when she is advised to keep her intense sufferings in the closet and empowering girls to question the wrong period education. Following the footsteps of the first phase, this new campaign is also trending in the digital platforms.
Speaking about winning the award Founder & Director of C Com Digital Mr. Chandan Bagwe said “Excited about the achievement, this is absolutely a huge win for us. Through this campaign, our target was to break and heal the unnecessary sufferings girls and women go through, just for the sake of the taboo. The overwhelming responses say, that we have been successful in our campaign. Now this award is a feather on our cap, acknowledging that success of the powerful social message we delivered”.This award for #WhySufferSilently at the prestigious 10th IAMAI Digital awards is thus undoubtedly a wonderful accolade and acknowledgement of its grand success and powerful message and continues to rule the social media & OTT platform.
