A group of South African social activists has gained international recognition for two public campaigns against Gender Based Violence (GBV) and the use of bots to distort social media conversations.
The Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC) is a non-profit organisation based at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business and is incubated by the Allan Gray Centre for Values-Based Leadership. It was established to track and counter mis- and disinformation, fake news and divisive online rhetoric that undermines social cohesion and democratic integrity.
The CABC’s short film which attempts to break the cycle of GBV won a Gold Award at CICLOPE Africa 2021. Another film on how robotic accounts influence social media users has now been published on Shots.net, a global showcase for creativity in advertising and short films.
CABC Executive Director, Associate Professor Camaren Peter, said the entire team was honoured by the recognition for its work.
“We are determined to use our social media findings and insights to stimulate and contribute to meaningful change in our society,” said Prof Peter. “We are delighted that our work is being recognised.”
“More importantly, we hope that this recognition will help to spread the message behind our work against gender-based violence and the orchestrated manipulation of online narratives. We are striving to make social media a more effective and less hazardous medium, so that social media can be used to bring real change that improves life for individuals, builds communities, and creates national cohesion.”
After detecting an outrageous increase in Gender Based Violence during South Africa’s first lockdown, the CABC set out to change the conversation under its GBV “Reflections” campaign. South Africa has the highest levels of gender-based violence in the world, with intimate partners being the most common perpetrators.
A short film was produced to break the cycle of violence by driving the message that young boys who experience violence often grow into abusive men.
The “Reflections” film features a young boy pleading with someone – who is later revealed to be his older, abusive self. The 90-second film shows how violence can become normalised from a young age. The supporting radio spot also asks listeners to report abuse to the Gender Based Violence Command Centre at 0800 428 428.
The short clip “Reflections” can be viewed on CareZA’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Click HERE to view GBV “Reflections” TV ad. Click HERE to listen to GBV “Reflections” radio ad. CareZA’s website also links to resources to help both men and women affected by domestic violence: https://www.careza.co.za/unite-against-gbv/
The “Reflections” campaign and Public Service Announcements are supported by DSTV, SABC, Trace Media on TV and OFM, KayaFm, East Coast Radio, JacarandaFM on radio. Provantage Media donated media space on its network to support the Reflections GBV campaign using outdoor transit media, and will be repeating the campaign later this year.
The CABC thanks all broadcast and outdoor media groups for their valuable support.
Last year the film was recognised with an I DID THAT Special Mention award for Direction conferred by leading advertising experts. https://ididthat.co/ididthat-craft-awards-august-2020/
Now the film has won a Gold Award at CICLOPE Africa 2021, after three rounds of judging in which the jury discussed the winning entries and top producers and creatives chose the most well-crafted commercials, short films and music videos on the continent.
The CICLOPE Africa award was conferred on the CABC, producers Patriot Films, director Aadil Dhalech.
For full details, please go to:
http://africa.ciclopefestival.com/winners-2021-ciclope-africa/
This year the CABC produced a two-minute film “Ronald and Pete”. It features two characters: Ronald, a robot that spreads false information about Covid-19 vaccinations and Pete, a social media user who falls for Ronald’s crackpot conspiracy stories.
Ronald the robot was designed and created by Hollywood visual effects artist Robert Carlisle, who has worked on Judge Dredd and 10,000 BC. Ronald’s face was produced using a 3D printer.
The film dispels false claims circulating on social media, including the bizarre idea that 5G towers can be used to spread Covid-1 and that vaccines contain nanotechnology which can cause behavioural change.
The CABC’s film has been published on Shots.net, a global showcase for creativity in advertising, music videos and short films.
The “Ronald and Peter” film is also currently on our website, here
It was produced by Patriot Films’ Zayd Halim and Lauren Dugmore, with direction by Aadil Dhalech.
The film’s key message is: don’t assume that what you get on social media is the truth, always verify the information before retweeting or sharing it.
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