About this campaign
The Doing Nothing Does Harm campaign aims to motivate and support bystanders to do something when they see or hear disrespect towards women.
Violence against women begins with disrespect. This is a national problem, deep in our culture and society. By challenging disrespect towards women, we can change this culture and ultimately prevent violence against women.
Check out the Phase one campaign here.
Our Watch has recently launched Phase two of the campaign, check out the new ads below and find materials to help share the campaign message on the Support this campaign page.
A group of three men and three women are exercising in a leafy park. We focus on two of the men who are putting their boxing gloves on. One of them makes a comment about the woman exercising behind them.]
Man 1: Oohf, check it out. Makes the 6 AM alarm worth it, doesn’t it?
[Man 2 looks clearly uncomfortable with the comment, but doesn’t do anything.]
[Words appear on screen: Next time, do something.]
[Suddenly, a mouse cursor rewinds the video back to the moment where Man 2 makes the offensive comment.]
Man 1: … Makes the 6 AM alarm worth it, doesn’t it?
[This time, the friend decides to show that the comment was not okay. He shakes his head, takes off his gloves, and walks away from the man who made the disrespectful comment.]
[Words appear on the screen: When you see women being disrespected, show it’s not OK.]
[Man 1 who made the disrespectful comment now looks uncomfortable and contemplative.]
[An end graphic appears on screen to read: Do something, because doing nothing does harm - This is followed by an Our Watch logo and text that reads: End violence against women and their children – at the bottom, the text reads: doingnothingdoesharm.org.au]
[A group of four tradespeople, three men and one woman, are having lunch at a casual café discussing something that happened at work that morning]
Man 1: Yeah, I reckon we’re going to need another day to finish that decking though.
Woman: Well you’ll save time if we repurpose the...
[Man 2 interrupts the woman]
Man 2: I reckon us guys know what we’re doing, thanks love.
[Man 1 looks visibly uncomfortable with the comment and looks down, but doesn’t do anything about it]
[Words appear on the screen: Next time, do something.]
[Suddenly, a mouse cursor rewinds the video back to the moment where Man 2 makes the offensive comment.]
Man 2: ...thanks love.
[The woman looks visibly offended as she grabs her wallet, stands up and walks away towards the cashier]
[Words appear on the screen: When you see women being disrespected, support them]
[This time, Man 1 stands up and walks towards his female colleague to support her.]
Man 1: Hey, don’t listen to him. Keen to hear your idea when we get back.
[The woman smiles and nods at him.]
[Man 1 looks back at the table to see their fourth colleague nodding at him and the woman in approval]
[An end graphic appears on screen to read: Do something, because doing nothing does harm - This is followed by an Our Watch logo and text that reads: End violence against women and their children – at the bottom, the text reads: doingnothingdoesharm.org.au]
In a suburban house backyard, two men are standing together talking beside a food table.
Man 1: Have a look at this [Man 1 shows Man 2 something on his mobile phone].
See? They’re nowhere near the same standard as the men.
[Sports commentary sound is heard from phone]
Man 1: I could watch them bounce around like that all day though [Laughs].
[Man 2 looks visibly uncomfortable with the comment, but doesn’t do anything about it.]
[Words appear on screen: Next time, Do Something]
[Suddenly, a mouse cursor rewinds the video back to the moment where Man 1 makes the offensive comment.]
Man 1: ...all day though [Laughs].
Man 2: Come on. Have some respect.
Man 1: What?
Man 2: That’s not on.
Come on. Have some respect.
[Words appear on the screen: When you see women being disrespected, speak up.]
Man 1: You know what? You’re right. Too far.
[An end graphic appears on screen to read: Do something, because doing nothing does harm - This is followed by an Our Watch logo and text that reads: End violence against women and their children – at the bottom, the text reads: doingnothingdoesharm.org.au]
[A man is sitting at his desk attending a video conference meeting with four other colleagues, two men and two women. One of his male colleagues makes a comment.]
Man 1: This is a tough client, better we send one of the guys instead.
[Everyone looks uncomfortable about the comment, but no one does anything. We focus back on the man sitting at his desk who shakes his head]
[Words appear on the screen: Next time, do something.]
[Suddenly, a mouse cursor rewinds the video back to the moment where Man 2 makes the offensive comment.]
Man 1: ...the guys instead.
[This time, the man who was looking uncomfortable decides to speak up.]
Man 2: What do you mean? Because Emma’s a woman? I wonder what HR would have to say about this.
[Words appear on the screen: When you see women being disrespected, speak up.]
[We see the full group on the video conference, then focus in on the offender looking uncomfortable.]
[An end graphic appears on screen to read: Do something, because doing nothing does harm - This is followed by an Our Watch logo and text that reads: End violence against women and their children – at the bottom, the text reads: doingnothingdoesharm.org.au]
Who or what are bystanders?
A bystander is anyone who sees or hears something happen but is not directly involved – that is, they’re not the person being disrespectful or the woman being targeted. In the context of the Doing Nothing Does Harm campaign, a bystander is someone who witnesses disrespect towards women.
Who runs Doing Nothing Does Harm? How is it funded?
Doing Nothing Does Harm was developed under the Third Action Plan (2016-2019) of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children (2010-2022), funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services. It continues to be funded under the Fourth Action Plan (2019-2022).
Our Watch, a national leader in the primary prevention of violence against women and their children in Australia, developed this campaign.
Our Watch's vision is an Australia where women and their children live free from all forms of violence. Our mandate is to stop violence before it happens. Our purpose is to provide national leadership to prevent all forms of violence against women and their children. Our work will always be based on sound research and strong and diverse partnerships. Learn more about Our Watch.
The research
Our Watch undertook two phases (pre-formative and developmental) of qualitative and quantitative research to inform the development of the Doing Nothing Does Harm campaign.
Pre-formative research, conducted in 2015, comprised qualitative focus groups (9) and an online survey sample of n=1204 Australians aged 16 years or older. This sample was representative of the Australian population.
Developmental research, conducted in 2017, comprised qualitative focus groups (10) and quantitative research (an online survey of n=1059) of Australians 25-54-year-old Australians with a focus on three of the bystander segments identified in the pre-formative research.
Research was essential to ensuring Our Watch developed a campaign that has the best chance of empowering bystanders to do something about disrespect towards women and ultimately help prevent violence against women.
Media enquiries
To contact Our Watch's media team, please email media@ourwatch.org.au or phone 0448 844 930.