Last year, in the wake of Weinstein and the tidal wave of #MeToo that has outed the behaviour of men around the world, the first instinct of most men was simply to stay silent. Our objective on GQ was to initiate an integrated campaign, online and in print, dedicating a week on GQ.co.uk and a month in the magazine to discussing #MeToo - honestly, respectfully and openly, in order to counter the silence and spread awareness on our platforms that men need to talk too. Our thoughts are that the only way to admit there's a problem is to discuss it, and by not speaking at all, and by not talking enough amongst ourselves, men run the risk of keeping the status quo and turning a blind eye to what is happening around the world.
Our strategy was an integrated campaign, both in the magazine and online, in order to raise the most awareness across our platforms. We dedicated a week on the website and expanded those pieces to a month in print, focusing on conversations around #MeToo from a diverse range of writers from different backgrounds.
As #MeToo launched on Twitter, we used the social media platform as the basis for our promotion. Using the hashtag to generate conversation, we also promoted a timeline of stories which were coming up on the website each day, so people would be aware of our coverage.
What made our work unique was that we were the first men's magazine in the UK to launch an integrated campaign around #MeToo, using exclusive editorial from a variety of writers across the country. Our pieces were reacting to news from the #MeToo movement, for example Stuart McGurk's piece on Woody, Harvey, Spacey - should we feel guilty about watching their back catalogue? To starting new conversations around #MeToo. For example, Why I'm now afraid of men by Olive Pometsey - a piece on how in the wake of Weinstein our 23-year-old writer had started to perceive men differently. Technology writer Amelia Tait reported on how dating apps are changing in the wake of #MeToo, while The New Statesman's Deputy Editor Helen Lewis wrote about the "bullshit tax" of having to speak out while supposedly liberal, feminist men stay silent.
In addition we made bespoke graphics for each piece we commissioned during the campaign, using text and no images to make a statement, while also keeping the hashtag present in our work to emphasise the importance of #MeToo to our readers.
The results of our work successfully met our team's objectives and goals as we were able to effectively use our digital, print and social media platforms in order to start a respectful conversation around #MeToo.
Additionally, during our campaign we broke a news story around #MeToo. The singer-songwriter Emma-Lee Moss (aka Emmy the Great) spoke out for the first time in her piece about her experience being groped and objectified in the music industry, and finding the strength to speak out about it for the first time because of #MeToo. "The culture of the music industry allowed for questions that still haunt me now", the singer-songwriter wrote in her piece.
In reaction to Emma's piece, and the week's worth of comment pieces on our site, we were able to generate conversation on Twitter and on email from women who said they were happy to see a men's magazine talking about #MeToo.
As a result we opened up our platform in order to discuss #MeToo, openly, honestly and respectfully.
