The Standby Collective was a communication campaign aimed at encouraging bystander intervention against sexual harassment in Singapore. The campaign targeted young adults aged 18-35 years old.

The campaign consisted of an interactive web series and workshops. The web series tells of a light-hearted story that enacts true sexual harassment incidents to capture viewers’ attention while retaining the authenticity of the situation. At the end of every episode, the viewer (as the bystander) will be given a choice to chose an action that they think is appropriate. The choice that is favoured by most people will be the starting point for the next episode.

The team also hit the streets to find out the first thing that comes to mind when people think about sexual harassment. Watch the video below:

The Highlights

One of the highlights of this project was the unexpected social impact the campaign had on friends, family, acquaintances and strangers alike.

Since the start of the project, several people have come up to the team to thank them for starting this project, affirming them and let them know how important this project really is. In particular, there were 5 people who came up to express how the campaign had encouraged them to report their cases to the police or to seek help that was deemed suitable for them.

The Memories

The full production cast and crew on set.
Preparing for the day’s video shoot.
The production cast posing in character.
Setting up an interactive theatre workshop at National Volunteer and Philanthropic Centre (NVPC).
A professional facilitator leading the session in an interactive theatre workshop session.

Reflection #1 – The Challenges

For the campaign’s interactive theatre workshops, it was a challenge to get participants. This could have been due to the sensitive nature of the topic of sexual harassment, as well as the commitment required to come down for the event and participate in it.

Although the team had initially aimed to get at least 20 participants for each workshop, the average number of participants came down to 8 per workshop. However, many participants gave feedback that this workshop size was very comfortable and intimate, as the facilitator could personalise the experience for each of them, and everyone had the opportunity to participate in the interactive theatre elements. Thus, even though the size of the workshops was small, the impact on each participant was significant.

Reflection #2 – The Takeaways

One of the key takeaways we got from this project was how all of us, no matter who we are or where we come from, are susceptible to sexual harassment, no matter how educated we are about the subject.