Fck The Cupcakes unites organisations to launch initiative that empowers men to ‘be the change’
Fck The Cupcakes (FTC), an industry movement established last year to help address gender inequality, is launching its first major campaign, ‘Be the Change’, an initiative motivating men to help women drive change.
FTC, led by Innocean Australia CEO, Jasmin Bedir, and a team within the agency, has brought together a powerhouse of communications professionals to help develop and implement the campaign. The FTC committee includes creative (Innocean), Media (Hearts & Science), PR (Edelman), digital (Razorfish), and publishers Paramount Australia & New Zealand, JCDecaux, ARN, yStop, Hoyts, Seven Network, Nine Network, Nova, News Corp, as well as Mamamia, Yahoo, Meta, SCA, and Val Morgan, supporting organisations Never Not Creative, shEqual, The ManCave, Line & Length, Omnicom Group, and DHL as a sponsor of the campaign.
The ‘Be the Change’ campaign was created to help shift the gender conversation from being a women’s issue to one that aims to engage men and give them permission to enter the conversation and actively support women, in the workplace, in circles of friends, in families, and with strangers.
Australian men hold some of the most misogynistic views in the Western world, with the cohort ranking well above the global average in a research study from Ipsos and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership (GIWL).
The recent shEqual Advertising Equality report confirmed that men were disengaged from the subject, with more than half (54%) believing that gender equality is already prioritised, while only 29% of women agreed.
The national campaign features a short-form sitcom as its centrepiece that helps Aussie men recognise spoken and unspoken casual misogyny in the workplace. The script was written based on results and answers to numerous equality surveys, as well as using the many lived experiences of Australian women. Although shot in a sitcom style like The Office, the sad reality is, for many women the film isn’t a parody. The viewer is deliberately drawn to the main character’s obvious displays of sexism and misogyny, when what takes place behind him is just as important. It’s the lack of reaction to the seen and unseen moments that the campaign aims to draw attention to, and guide men on how they could better respond in those situations.
The film lives on the Be the Change website, where men can unpack the moments to motivate behaviour change, then take action in the form of tools, information, workshops from male organisations. All communications are written in a language to get everyone on the same level, not play the blame game.
Says Bedir: “If the election has taught us anything, women do not want men to stand by in the struggle for equality. But we also acknowledge that many men want to help but don’t know how – so we have created a safe space for men to learn the tools and giving permission to contribute to the fight for gender equality 365 days a year.”
Says Rod Prosser, chief sales officer, Paramount Australia & New Zealand (ANZ): “The truth is many men have disengaged from the conversation. For the vast majority of men, they do not relate to the stories of extreme sexual assault, unfair dismissal or domestic violence so often covered in mainstream media. We have no lived experience of what the average woman goes through in their daily workday, nor our unconscious contribution to it.”
The multi-channel initiative has support from the production industry and media partners, including Paramount Australia & New Zealand, JCDecaux, ARN, yStop, Hoyts, Seven Network, Nine Entertainment, Foxtel, Nova, as well as Yahoo, SCA, oOH!media, and Val Morgan.
Client: Fck The Cupcakes
Creative Agency: Innocean Australia
CEO: Jasmin Bedir
ECD: Wesley Hawes
CDs: Effie Kacopieros, Damon Porter, V. Wassim Kanaan
Copywriters: Laura Parker, Charlotte Berry
Account Management: Carly Pelham
Strategy: Charlotte Berry, Gual Barwel
Producers: Sue Hind, Gabe Hammond, Esmé Fisher
Senior Designer: Michael Macgregor
Agency Editor: Dave Anlezark
PR: Edelman PR, Matthew Ellenby
Media: Hearts & Science, Wendy Gower
Digital/CX: Razorfish
CEO: Jason Tonelli
ECD: Vaughan Townsend
Senior Copywriter: Jacque Kennedy
UX Lead: James Winchester
Creative Designer: Madison Chan
Strategic Projects Director: Maria Galang
Production Company: Filmgraphics
Director – Scott Walker
EP/Producer – Anna Fawcett
DOP – Daniel Ardilley
Post – Vandal
Sound – Rumble
Production support:
Wellcom
Media companies/partners:
ARN
Foxtel
Hoyts
JCDecaux
Nova
oOH!media
Paramount Australia & New Zealand
SCA
Seven Network
Val Morgan
Yahoo
yStop
For more information or to get involved, visit: www.be-the-change.com.au
63 Comments
This is how bad the Australian version of The Office would be if Channel 9 made it.
‘Shot in a sitcom style like The Office’?
Don’t you mean completely ripped off The Office, badly.
So, in order to gain gender equality in the workplace you think it’s ok to stereotype men?
This is lazy, from strategy through to execution, and not the way to go about getting like minded males on board.
I’m a man and I’m embarrassed for you for that comment. Guys like that do exist. And guys who don’t engage in that behaviour and frown upon it, but remain silent are very much real too. I’ll admit to often being one of them. It may not be the best execution, but that insight definitely speaks to me and makers me think I should be more vocal.
Yeah, but the video is just trash in a lot of regards. Like ‘manspreading in your own seat that affects nobody’ or the whole ‘you can’t invite just a man to a pub, maybe a girl wants to be invited’ when that opens up claims for sexual harassment so is actually suggested to NOT do that.
Or the whole ‘women are interrupted twice every minute’ when you’ll get such staggeringly different outcomes if you guess what the bias for the study was already aimed towards and figure out how they did that. The study they cited said 2.1 times a minute, but that women only interrupt men once for every 3 times a man interrupted.
But, while I have not seen the actually video of them doing this study there are others where they were debunked for similar thought processes. Another study that said women do not interrupt men did something called stacking the deck. When a man started talking before a woman, it was interrupting. If there was a pause, and a man spoke, it was interrupting. If it was a question was asked to an open group and both a man and woman responded, they recorded it as a man interrupting. That’s what you’re dealing with. Not facts, but perception they wanted to sell.
However other videos for the studies if you separated it by ‘[gender] was in the middle of speaking and was interrupted by [gender] instead of [man] spoke at any point in time it is quite different. Assuming equal status, women were far more likely to interrupt and usually because they’d assume they knew better than the man. (which is funny when the complaint that mansplaining is done because they assume they know more than women but it turns out the inverse happens more often). Also, men were more likely to interrupt men and women were more likely to interrupt men as well. One difference between men interrupting men is that the conversations usually flowed in a way where they can interrupt, talk at the same time and continue, so then you’d have to say a difference between a ‘full conversation stopping interruption’ and a minor interruption that doesn’t actually stop the conversation. Most studies do not recognize a difference. Men were more quick to initiate a conversation based on objective dialogue (like discussing a job) and women were more likely to initiate a conversation based on subjective dialogue (stating why you like someone’s earring or to talk about your morning) so when a lot of these studies were done, they’d give scenarios encouraging objective dialogues and then use that initiative to claim an interruption. and finally, people of a higher position were the most likely to interrupt someone of a lower position (Which may shape some perceptions since more bosses and CEOs are male, even if female bosses and CEOs had extremely high occurrences of interrupting their subordinates.)
Hard to watch, but not for the reasons they intended. Just bad.
I can think of a few people in our industry like this character. Hope they’re watching. Well done to all involved.
So tone deaf despite what’ it’s trying to do. And so unfunny it’s hard to believe.
Causing offence to the people you’re trying to get on side is not constructive. This piece of work says nothing new to highlight a problem that deserves better. I’m embarrassed for you, as a man, who can’t see the difference.
I genuinely believe in what fck the cupcakes are trying to do but this misses the mark. Modern methods employed by abusers and misogynists have evolved from what is shown here. They are far more subtle, clever and devastating. You’d be better off bringing people’s attention to methods like gaslighting, grooming and the casual, almost invisible sexism that is deployed in so many places on a daily basis.
I don’t mind The Office “homage”, but most of this behaviour feels at least 10 years out of date to me. Unless I’ve been lucky with my working environments (or blind to what’s really been going on), it feels to me that modern male office misogyny is subtler – albeit just as real – and I’m not sure this broad approach feels authentic.*
*Actual women’s experiences may differ!
All these people commenting that it’s “so unfunny” – what part of sexism do you think is funny? If it made you cringe, that’s because it’s meant to.
The real sexism that goes on is hidden, said in hushed tones amongst like minded men, not through a ridiculous cartoon caricature this this buffoon. I’m not sure who this piece of work is aimed at but it doesn’t speak to me or any of the men that I know in the industry.
Tough message to hit the right mark on but a decent enough effort.
I watched it right till then end, which is more than I can say for 95% of ads !!
This might feel a bit heavy handed but its clear there are also men in the scenes equally finding the boss offensive so it’s not like Gillette which suffered from implying all men are evil.
Very clear how to ‘step in’, simple and strong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHxAxRYIlfE
I have thought about that ad a fair bit. I agree that it is far more subtle and nicely crafted. I do wonder, however, whether it positions women as victims unable to navigate their own way through life. In other words, that women need men to step in and protect them – the classic Damsel in Distress. Does that message not disempower women? Personally, I believe that in real life I would act like the man intervening in the scene and I would hope that so, too, would other men. I just think the real message should be aimed at the starer – don’t be a creepy dickhead, dickhead.
I’m sure there will be some women who feels this disempowers them while there will be others who would be grateful for a subtle intervention like this. I like it because it shows a real example of how you can do something seemingly minor that can make a big difference. We’ve all seen this sort of thing to a greater or lesser degree on public transport. Doing nothing, for me, isn’t the right thing to do. While yelling out hey dickhead is probably going to cause a commotion, an altercation and leave the woman feeling very uncomfortable at being the centre of this.
Kudos to all involved for I guess trying to tackle this important issue. Clearly both a lot of people and a lot of work involved. As the comments above have noted though, this totally misses the mark.
Firstly it’s missing the ‘comedy’ part in the ‘sitcom’. This type of thing may look easy, but it’s no mistake that only the Ricky Gervaises of the world are able to successfully pull it off. This is more cringecom.
More importantly though, this is a missed opportunity to provide both a positive role model (yes they exist) and constructive messaging to help the guilty parties change their ways. That is to say: what are we supposed to take away other than “don’t do this”. Surely if better behaviour and education is the goal, there should be some cues or suggestions for positive steps that can be taken to address the issue?
Feel really bad for all involved. A huge waste of time and money.
You can’t use sexism to fight sexism.
This is a real problem that needs solving and this isn’t the solution.
That campaign deserves another run. Lots of runs.
It’s clearly intended to make you laugh uncomfortably, in the way that The Office does. Except it made me cringe for all the wrong reasons; it being badly written and and the use out of date stereotypes. It’s more like Mrs Brown’s Boys than Ricky Gervais.
It’s a good cause, but as a bloke who has witnessed more workplace sexism than I ever would have liked to, personally it misses the mark. The bloke comes across as clueless. In my experience, sexist pricks, both male and female know what they’re doing. They know it’s naughty and it is part power trip, part trying to ‘bond’ / ‘joke’ the only way they know how, and mostly stems from the deep insecurity only a single-sex school can produce. But I applaud the effort. We’ve come a long way since Rodney Rude was top of the charts. Now let’s not get started on the girls club and the sexism on female-only email chains…
It’s not supposed to be funny, because it’s real accounts from real women in our industry. Visit the website, because yes, what comes out of the guys mouth is offensive, but inequality surfaces in many, more subtle and often more nefarious ways. Visit the website, and you can learn about how you can be a better advocate. Appreciate the critique of the film, but there’s more layers to it than just a parody of the office. http://www.be-the-change.com.au/
If you’d like to be a constructive part of the solution rather than an anonymous commentator on CB. We’re always looking for contributors. gual.barwell@innocean.com.au
These may be real examples from real women but you’ve packaged it up in a manner that doesn’t resonate with your target. No matter how well intentioned, it’s just not very good.
I don’t want to be the change, none of the men I work with are perfect and neither are the women. They are all flawed humans and so am I. Why we expect perfection from anyone is just silly, the world will go on and things change slowly on their own. Somethings for the best, sometimes for the worst but it’s always changing. The idea that we can fix everything in short periods of time and make everyone perfect is delusional and illogical and wastes enormous amounts of time and energy.
By not speaking to you does that mean you’ll carry on with the hushed tones? I’d argue by making it look more sinister it will end up driving likeminded men into fear of speaking up or out. This is tongue in cheek and harmless enough to perhaps just get men to think… hmm that’s a bit like what old mate said in WhatsApp the other day… because you know they did.
This reminds me of a series of films that IPG made us watch when I was at r/ga back in the day. It was blaringly cringeworthy in its examples of unacceptable workplace behaviour and at the time we all thought it was blunt and crude – but it wasn’t trying to be creative and served its purpose. It was staff training. I’m not sure what this is.
Still with r/ga, they did some really interesting (and famous) work out of LA concerning implicit bias in terms of attitudes towards race, age, gender, religion, sexuality and disability that had, as a part of its thinking, a survey. It was genuinely interesting and made people reevaluate how they think about the world. This work simply highlights blunt behaviour that even the perpetrators probably know is not ok. There is no ‘oh wow’ moment that makes so much social change work so effective (all the Dove work included).
Strangely this work seems to be trying to create a creative opportunity without doing much to move the needle on the cause they’re trying to affect. Hats off to all work that tries to help create positive change. But, like it’s name, I think most of the FCK The Cup Cakes work leaves people scratching their heads. That’s just one opinion, however.
how many tines Ive seen real life blokes do so many of these things in workplaces, even if it is depicted in this cartoony way. Agree that most workplace misogyny and sexism is more subtle and nuanced, and is not this visible but as the super says, these interactions were based on real life experiences, so let’s not discredit them too much. Guessing there’ll be a lot of women (and hopefully men) watching these realising just how many times they’ve seen this kind of behaviour too. Gotta start somewhere!
Surely this would be way better if it was just him behaving poorly subconsciously, rather than presenting his “man issue” to camera…
This is lazy – from strategy to creative and production.
This may have been a mid 90s in the workplace reflection, but it’s not a mirror of the modern workplace. It misses the mark on a very serious issue. Trying to be too tricky can often result in being a tad tone deaf. Good cause, but a bad attempt at rectifying.
This IS a modern reflection. This happens all the time. You just must be lucky to be surrounded by men and women who respect each other.
Jees. I’m glad you’re not in charge of anything.
“It’s all shit. Don’t bother trying”
?
To think that having more women in positions of power will result in a better world is a nonsense. Go and ask Senator Kimberley Kitching about her female colleagues. Oh, that’s right. You can’t because she was reportedly bullied by them into an early grave. I believe the message should be about treating EVERYONE with decency and respect – irrespective of their gender, sexuality, size, ethnicity, religion, fashion sense or whatever. Most people just want to work in an office that has a decent culture – where people are treated fairly and where merit is the most significant arbiter of who gets ahead. I’m happy to work for men or women so long as they are decent and competent.
If the side-eye at the water bottle shot was one of the ‘unsaid’ examples.
As in, opening a water bottle is somehow sexism? Is this where we’re at?
Imagine a film made by a bunch of blokes that points out all the things women do that piss them off. Does that sound offensive to you?
This is a piece intended to create conversation. It’s great. It’s exactly what we’re after.
^ That’s the self-justification bias you will tell yourselves as you pat yourselves on the back for a job well done. It’s not okay to think that way. Most if not all people want sexism and disgusting predatory behaviour gone. The issue for men is a) power imbalance, and b) fear of losing your job for speaking out c) feeling something’s wrong, but not having proof because predators work in the shadows d) speaking up, means you put your character in the spotlight to be judged.
You must stop going back to the well of stereotypical tropes that create more division between sexes, and more hatred towards men, instead of creating constructive discussion.
You’re making things worse.
You’re making men bunker down and stay out of the ‘be the change’ mission you aim to achieve.
Why ‘be the change’ as a man when the risk to your livelihood is so great if you put your neck out when you speak out?
And the program who wants men to do it, is straight up being condescending towards men and points at men as the problem?
None of this is to dismiss the horrors of what does go on for women. But you’re making the male allies who do speak up, and have, think it may be better to simply shut up and stay out of it with content like this.
Stop.
Get the guitar.
This has so many people upset is because a lot of men today are really struggling with their role and responsibilities in the conversation about equity – not just in the workplace but everywhere. Theres’s a lot of content and commentators attacking CIS white men because, let’s be honest, they see them as the cause of the injustice they view as the enemy – which in reality they are. The problem is that it’s hard for some men not to see these attacks as attacks on them. So, predictably, they get defensive, because they feel ‘tarred with the same brush’. Problem is that many of them are unaware that sexism is not black or white, you aren’t ‘for’ women, or ‘against’ them, you are a sliding scale where complacency makes you guilty, some men are more part of the problem than others, but like it or not, they are all part of the problem. Sure, a more holistic change behaviour strategy that recognises the fact that it’s on everyone to tackle this issue could be done, but would that cut through and create a conversation like this has? On here anyway.
The site tells me men shouldn’t play golf cos women don’t play golf.
Have some women putting their views across on this please?
Does nobody else in the film say anything? They notice but all stay quiet – men and women.
Looks like EVERYBODY in that workplace is complicit. So it’s not just about the main character – we’ve got 100% of people in this film who are the problem.
This has so many people upset because this is such a serious issue but it hasn’t been taken seriously by the people behind this work.
Instead of striving to spark an authentic and respectful discussion, they’ve resorted to cliches and outdated stereotypes to try to get their message across.
And now they are defending their pedestrian work by suggesting it’s just defensive, angry men who are upset with it.
No – people are upset because this topic and this industry deserves so much better than this.
The only people that seem upset with this are men
You think they are angry because of the quality of a piece of comms? No, they are angry because they feel under attack by those that are pointing the finger at them. It’s the whole #notallmen debate playing out on CB
…take the pink cupcakes once a year than watch this.
Be the change in this world and stop creating videos and wasting money on producing campaigns like this that don’t make a dent on society.
I’m not upset by this. But I was a young male who stood up for women in a (horrifically) sexist workplace. I was consequently threatened to be ‘run out of the industry’ by the people I stood up to. I now can’t work for that agency or any of their (numerous) mates. I struggled massively to even get work. You live, you learn. This film feels like a burn. There’s no useful advice on how to approach this, it’s just pointing out the same jock we all see. And this one is super f-ing tame compared to the ‘show us ya yayas’ anyone with more than a decade’s experience has seen, shielded their colleagues from and had to put their own principals before their career or bank balance.
re-read your first comment – in it, you say that all CIS white men in reality are the enemy – then follow it up immediately with a sentence saying all the men on here are just upset because they think this is an attack on them and that’s why they get defensive out of fear of being tarred by the same brush – and that they can’t see things beyond black and white in regards to sexism. And that all men are part of the problem, like it or not.
Pot. Meet Kettle. Most sexist comment in this whole piece.
What is the #notallmen debate exactly?
You mean it’s not ok for the majority of men who aren’t sexist in any way to point out the flaws with this ‘finger pointing’ strategy?
This film is as sexist as the main character’s behaviour.
I think there are a lot of men out there who don’t like being reminded they’ve behaved this way at some point or another. Most straight white men don’t like unsolicited wake up calls. Also @JaseR – well said.
Didn’t you know that anyone who points out the flaws in anything associated with this is painted as an enemy. Meanwhile, campaigns like this continue to not work because of their flaws. But hey, let’s all just look the other way regarding that and jump into an echo chamber where anyone who doesn’t 100% agree is misogynistic.
‘anyone who doesn’t 100% agree is misogynistic.’
No one has said this. Making stuff up isn’t part of a debate
Does your organisation actually donate to and/or fund an initiative that makes meaningful change to real women – not just make a statement?
Maybe you need to re-read the comments.
… posted bad comments on this post. But the problematic ones did. And that’s why this work great and necessary.
From I thinks comments:
“So, predictably, they get defensive, because they feel ‘tarred with the same brush.” followed by “…some men are more part of the problem than others, but like it or not, they are all part of the problem.”
Content that triggers that sort of a response and stated like its fact, is in active support of this campaign, and one that many don’t blink an eye to it, is incredibly concerning. And all too common.
There’s a big issue where men who speak up in support of this important issue but also suggest that these particular tactics may not be the right approach to pursue or create actual change, and in fact may have the opposite affect, immediately get dismissed as being ‘part of the problem’ by a small but vocal minority. A vocal minority with such a ruthless self-righteous and altruistic resolve that both men and women are afraid of speaking up against out of fear of being in their crosshairs.
Best to put up, shut up and applaud even when things are going in messy direction – and you can’t change shit if that’s the way things are.
Saying all men are part of the problem is NOT saying that the ones that don’t 100% agree with this work are misogynistic.
If you cant see that then I dont know how to explain it clearer to you.
A lot of people (not all) that are attacking this work are trying to say it’s a critique of its quality, but IMO it’s a more of a defensive reaction. It could have been the most compelling well crafted piece of advertising in history and you’d still get men (not all men – jesus!) throwing shit at it because they don’t like how it makes them feel.
Outy
so all men are part of the problem though?
Most of the comments aren’t criticising the quality of the film, they’re attacking the creative idea/strategy.
You call this out as being ‘defensive’. Imagine the reaction to a male saying that to a female who didn’t like how women were portrayed in a commercial.
‘Most of the comments aren’t criticising the quality of the film, they’re attacking the creative idea/strategy.’
Same difference
‘Imagine the reaction to a male saying that to a female who didn’t like how women were portrayed in a commercial.’
Pure whataboutery
Arguing with an idiot is like playing chess with a pigeon. They’ll knock over all the pieces, shit all over the board, and act like they’ve won anyway.
What the ECD thought when he saw the first offline? Was “Oh fuck me, this isn’t working” your first thoughts? (did it actually feel good on paper?)
So far off the mark, it’s um, not funny.