How hard is it to make a man hit? Not getting a candy bar is all it takes.
Big ideas are simple. This is a big idea by Hungry Boys for for social organisation, Who Cares?!:
Put a vending machine into one of Russia’s largest shopping centres, Afimall City. Put a woman on the video screen and rig the machine so that it fails to deliver its candy bars after customers have paid. Watch what happens.
The machine was set up with a series of vibration and display sensors. Hitting the machine several times will eventually release the purchase. But in doing so, the cheerful mood of the female vending assistant on the screen changes. She bursts into tears, drawing the attention of passers-by.
Every year, around 10,000 Russian women die as a result of domestic violence. The problem tends to stay hidden behind closed doors. Most neighbours choose not to interfere, and affected family members often don’t know how or where to seek help.
The fly-on-the-wall YouTube footage of men’s behaviour when their receiving a candy bar is thwarted, shows how tiny frustrations trigger violence.
The accompanying About blurb is tragically elegant:
“Every seventh murder on our planet occurs within families. And in most cases it’s all men’s fault.
How hard is it to drive a man wild?
Well, not hard at all
Lost control over a trifle? Every year thousands of Russian women die from domestic violence caused by trifles
Keep your hands to yourself and keep yourself well in hand.”
Alexander Stefanets, project creator, Hungry Boys, stated, “We want to draw attention to a problem that is hidden behind closed doors. We want to show how easy it is to ruffle a man’s feathers. If he permits himself to become aggressive in public because of some ‘trifles’* we can only begin to imagine what might happen within his own home. The Helpless Machine is an effective and hard-hitting way of getting this message across not only in Russian but across the globe.”
[*The campaign slogan is Lost Control Over A Trifle. The literal translation of “trifle” in Russian is “change”.]
Dimitry Tikhonov, curator, Who Cares?! added, “Domestic violence is a silent problem. It is important to create an environment in which an open discussion surrounding aggression within a family can take place. Hungry Boys has conceived a highly creative and impactful approach to raising awareness about this unacceptable and distressing problem.”
Creative credits:
Client: Who Cares?!
Producer: Alexey Nikolaev
Agency: Hungry Boys
Creative director: Vlad Sitnikov
Copywriter / creator: Alexander Stefanets
Production: Zebra Hero
Director: Andrey Paukov
Motion designer: Maxim Malakhov
Operator: Oleg Horoshavin
Photographer: Yana Yartseva
Model: Ulyana Bekauri
