TikTok teams up with UN Women to raise awareness about violence against women in India
- The #KaunsiBadiBaatHai campaign has attracted more than 887.5 million views as of Monday
- It is part of a larger initiative by UN Women that marks 16 Days of activism against gender-based violence
A campaign on viral short video app TikTok to raise awareness about women’s safety issues in India has attracted more than 887.5 million views as of Monday.
The #KaunsiBadiBaatHai campaign is part of a larger initiative by UN Women called “Orange the World: #HearMeToo” to mark 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. Kaunsi Badi Baat Hai means “what’s the big deal” in Hindi.
The campaign kicked off November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and will continue until the International Day of Human Rights on December 10, according to a statement by TikTok.
The in-app campaign encourages users to show their support by undertaking the #KaunsiBadiBaatHai “Rap for Change” challenge and sporting shades of orange in their videos. Orange, the signature colour of the campaign, symbolises the elimination of violence against women, TikTok said.
The campaign rap Kaunsi Badi Baat Hai was written and performed by 16-year-old Abbas Ali from Delhi and composed by Aditya Shekhawat. Available for users as a background track for their videos, the song highlights instances of violence against women and questions existing sociocultural norms, the statement added.
“At TikTok our mission is to inspire and enrich people’s lives and give them an outlet to express themselves in a way that adds value to the community,” said Nitin Saluja, director of public policy at TikTok India. “ We are proud to collaborate with UN Women India for this campaign as their community partners and believe that the highly engaged community on TikTok has the potential to contribute towards a change in society and spread the message of a violence-free world.”
Nishtha Satyam, deputy country representative of UN Women India said of the collaboration: “UN Women is committed to making spaces safe for women and young girls, for violence against women and young girls has real consequences and costs.