Ontario Women's Directorate

#ItsNeverOkay

In March 2015, the Government of Ontario launched "It's Never Okay: An Action Plan to Stop Sexual Violence and Harassment," a four-year, $40M plan to positively change behaviour. After targeting bystanders in the first phase, "#WhoWillYouHelp," the campaign shifted to take on what many Ontarians considered "grey areas" by defining unacceptable behavior.

The new campaign, "It's Never Okay," featured perpetrators explicitly verbalizing their intentions, speaking directly to the viewer as the victim. This blunt approach — which launched with a TV spot, followed by short online videos, print, OOH and digital banners — showed that if it's never OK to say, it's never OK to do. The campaign had a 70% recall score and achieved significant shifts with the important young adult male target.