Last week, millions of people were searching the internet for monster costumes. A retail ad for an online Halloween costume store looked promising, with its come-hither line, Ultimate Monster costume. But clicking through to look at the costume led to a page that showed an average bloke’s white T-shirt and jeans. The message is that monsters come in all shapes and sizes but are more often than not just ‘everyday guys’.
The outfit-includes list encompasses friend/classmate/boyfriend/colleague/husband and the outfit-features list reads invading women’s personal space/sharing nudes without consent/visiting chat rooms for tips on drugging.
The copy on the buy button says, DON’T BUY THIS BEHAVIOUR.
The social campaign to highlight ongoing issues around violence against women and girls was created by DO NOT BEHAVE, the independent UK creative studio founded in 2025 by creative director, Jo Moore.
The idea at the heart of the campaign is that the real monsters behind sexual violence are often in disguise and can be very hard to detect. The tactical Halloween campaign aims to bring awareness to the problem and ask male allies to be more vigilant.
The agency teamed up with educators, What Makes A Man and Cheer Up Luv, to get the message shared. What makes a man’s Andrew “Bernie’ Bernard is a UK based speaker, author and educator who challenges ideas of masculinity. Eliza Hatch spearheads Cheer up Luv and is an award-winning feminist photographer, educator, speaker and curator.
So far there have been 44k+ views over the Halloween weekend. And over 2.5k visits to the spoof Ultimate Monster costume site.
The UK government and public safety bodies treat violence against women and girls as a national emergency, with studies showing it impacts roughly one in 12 women in England and Wales across domestic abuse, sexual assault and rape, stalking, harassment, forced marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), and digital/online abuse. According to the Women and Girls Network, research indicates that approximately 97% of women who report sexual assault know their attacker.
Credits
Agency: DO NOT BEHAVE
ECD: Jo Moore
Creative: Poppy Cumming-Spain
Motion Graphics: Matt Baines
Design: Alissa Metsnik
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