Reebok India Tells the World “Bruises Can Be Good” Through a Social Experiment

The campaign has been conceptualised and executed by Isobar India

Mumbai: Isobar, the digital agency from Dentsu Aegis Network that handles the digital solutions for Reebok India, released a thought-provoking campaign – #BruisesCanBeGood on International Women’s Day. Launched with a social experiment, it makes a compelling statement on societal insights.

According to the National Family Health Survey (NHFS-4), every third woman in India, since the age of 15, has faced domestic violence of various forms. Making a strong assessment, #BruisesCanBeGoodbrings to light the harsh reality and the prevalent mind-set of the society by involving real audience. By highlighting the prevalence, the campaign aims to establish the need for self-defence education from a young age. Featuring a real combat artist as a protagonist, the social experiment further underlines the brand’s overarching communication for women – #FitToFight.

The mission of the campaign is to make self-defence classes a mandatory part of the curricula in schools and colleges. To achieve this, the brand has also written a petition on Change.org urging the Government of India to bring in the necessary reforms. To sign the petition, one can visit www.bruisescanbegood.com.

Speaking about the campaign, Silvia Tallon, Senior Marketing Director, Reebok India, said, “Our idea behind ‘Bruises Can Be Good’ was to showcase the skewed lens with which our society views bruises and women. The ingrained perceptions of bruises being violence inflicted, shadows the inner strength of the woman and allows us to undermine them. Since combat training is in our brand gene, Reebok honours these bruises as a mark of physical strength and mental toughness that can face any challenge. On International Women’s Day, we salute women who beat the odds and are “fit to fight” physically, mentally and socially.”

Commenting on the campaign, Gopa Kumar, Executive Vice President, Isobar India said, “‘Bruises Can Be Good’ is a powerful thought that focuses on how imperative it has become in today’s times to teach self-defence. For Women’s Day, we wanted to do a campaign that actually leads to a positive change and hence, the petition. The campaign is also in line with Reebok’s ‘Fit To Fight’ proposition and takes it forward beautifully.”

“A crime against a woman is committed every three minutes in India. We felt that just another story on Women’s Day is not what the nation needs; there is a desire to bring about substantial change and show the real picture, and this social experiment sets out to do that by highlighting how prevalent violence against women is. We hope that impactful moment of realisation will reach people from all walks of life; and I really urge people to sign the petition to make self-defence education mandatory for female students and show the world that #BruisesCanBeGood”, states Anish Varghese, National Creative Director, Isobar India.

The social experiment can be viewed here: