A woman is raped every ten minutes in Brazil, according to the annual public security and violence report published by the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA).
An estimated 600,000 women were victims of rape in 2017.
Date rape drugs are commonly used and seldom reported to authorities, as investigations are challenging because victims are unable to recall what happened and the drug is not detectable in the body after a short period.
It’s a huge problem that Havas Health & You and Universal Music set out to solve. They focused on finding a way to test the presence of a date rape drug in a drink. The challenge was to make it discreet. The consequences of being caught performing a test can be dangerous for women, who may already be dealing with a violent man.
The partners created a nail sticker named, Desperta, that detects date rape drugs in drinks by changing colour. All a woman has to do is dip her nail into her drink to know if it has been spiked. The formula was developed by the Federal University of Bahia and is ready for mass production.
To promote Desperta, Universal Music Brasil recruited one of its new stars, Malía, and produced a song, written by Mugshot, which tells the story.
“Music has the power to reach many people and touch their hearts, helping to solve many problems. Date rape drugs are a silent trick, not often reported to authorities. We gave the problem a voice, a spotlight, sensibility and music, while seeking to provide solutions,” stated Paulo Lima, president of Universal Music Brasil.
“Women have achieved independence and economic power in recent years, but we do not live in a safe world. We thus need to hack the system to give women the freedom to go where they want and how they want. Of course, women do not have the responsibility to protect themselves against this tactic, which will always be a crime against female integrity. But we developed this formula to address a gap that exists in a misogynistic society,” added Laura Florence, executive creative director at Havas Health & You.
Police Captain Zuleika Gonzales, who was consulted by the agency during the process, stated that, from the moment when the woman detects the attempted crime by deploying the sticker, the perpetrator can be found in the act of committing an offence and arrested.
Desperta was designed to detect substances of the AMINES category (which have nitrogen in their chemical structure) by changing colour. Companies interested in producing the item can find contact information on the desperta.info website.
Credits:
Creative Agency: Havas Health & You
Copywriters: Laura Florence (ECD) & Monica Tritone
Art Directors: Gabriela Guerra & Fran Ther
Business Intelligence Analyst: Marcio Donizetti
Media Manager: Paola Bastos
Business Director: Ingrid Bachmann
Planning: Paula Candido & Deyse Albiach Branco
Project Manager: Elaine Teixeira Dos Santos
Planning Director: Utymo Oliveira
Production Manager: Tatiana Torres
Managing Directors: Daniel Martins & Zé Roberto
Operations: Joatan
Production Company: Damasco Filmes
Director: Carolina Delgado
Executive Producer: Marcelo Monteiro
DoP: Adriano Vanni
Producer: Alessandra Meireles
Casting: Renata Costa
Music Company: Mugshot
Composer: Malía
Executive Producer: Gilvana Viana
Artist: Malía
Music Producers: Arthur Abrami, Mauricio Herszkowicz, Chico Reginato & Gabriel Mielnik
Client: Universal Music Brasil
Client Team: Paulo Lima, Marcelo Falção, Debora Freitas & Miguel Afonso
