Creative Salon Loves...Refuge's 'Red Flags' installation

“Empowerment”, “women in leadership”, “strong women”. We may not say it publicly, but we all know the language of corporate International Women’s Day (IWD) is tired and empty.

And after years of repetition, it has become little more than another task on the to-do list (of women). Often the work is unpaid, piled on top of all the other must-do tasks to avoid being deemed “lazy” or “weak”. And we (women) know that that’s just the catch – the bar is always higher and according to society we mustn’t complain. But still, we must be empowered?

We’ve had these discussions and if I look at the women around me, I rarely see people who need to be stronger, I see a society that needs to stop telling them to be anything other than who they are.

I may be unashamedly cynical, but I’m not entirely opposed to IWD. AMV BBDO’s latest ‘Red Flags’ installation for Refuge exemplifies what the day should stand for: real, tangible support for women and genuine social change.

The campaign plays on the notion of red flags to highlight the concept's origin: the very real signs of coercive control. The aim is to offer up support and highlight that abuse is unacceptable, whether it's physical or not.

It follows AMV BBDO’s film for Refuge, 'Make The World A Refuge’. Shared last year, it was created by BAFTA-winning director Georgi Banks-Davis and starred Billi Piper, who read out words from women who recounted the real abuse they had experienced.

This legacy from Refuge, and the fact that the out-of-home will be displayed at The Outernet at the Charing Cross Immersive Space means that the thousands who walk past might stop and think.

Nearly 80 per cent say they would report physical abuse, but just 39 per cent say they would do the same in a situation of coercive control. At least 750,000 children a year witness domestic violence. One in four women have experienced domestic abuse in their lifetime.

For IWD, it's refreshing to see Refuge and AMV BBDO shed light on the abuses women suffer in the home – where ideas about “empowerment” and “leadership” are first taught.

As a woman, and someone who cares about storytelling in all its forms, not only is the work commendable – it’s far more empowering (sigh) to see the industry put energy behind an organisation like Refuge, than to see yet another repetitive panel.