Gender-based violence (GBV), linked to both toxic masculinity and misogyny, is a well known problem in South Africa. According to World Bank data, South Africa has one of the highest rates of intentional female homicides in the world, with femicide rates 5 times higher than the global average. Instances of gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa surged during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, prompting the country’s president to condemn the surge in violence against women and children. The problem of GBV has taken centre stage in recent years as there have been many marches and protests in the country in response to tragic events. Many activists in the country assert that the high rates of GBV can be attributed to the prevalence of toxic masculinity and misogyny in South Africa.

Given the importance of the issue, the Data for Good Team and MTV Staying Alive Foundation (MTV SAF) have been collaborating over the past year in an effort to reshape thinking and attitudes related to GBV in South Africa. The collaboration began with research into the most salient themes around this topic using Facebook public post data. The MTV SAF team then developed an educational docuseries ‘MTV Shuga: What Makes a Man” that used storytelling to demonstrate ways to be a man, raise children, and be in a relationship without violence. Recently the team launched two campaigns, one to promote the television show and the other to drive key educational themes covered by the MTV Shuga docuseries – challenging gender roles and raising awareness about the impact of violence.

Data and Insights to Inform the Campaign

In April 2021, the Data for Good team analysed English, public Facebook posts to inform the development of the docuseries and campaign messages. The research found that the topic of toxic masculinity skewed toward younger demographics while abuse-related topics were most prevalent among the 25-44 age bracket. This insight showed that while young people were talking about toxic masculinity, there was also an opportunity to engage adults outside of the 18-24 age group and establish a clear linkage between hypermasculinity and gender-based violence. Furthermore, women were disproportionately more likely to post about hypermasculinity and abuse-related topics when compared to men. The lower engagement of men on the topic highlighted the importance of depicting men speaking to men about the issue in the series. We aimed to ensure that the content resonated with men and that they felt included in the discussions relating to GBV. Analysis of masculinity narratives revealed that some people sought to distinguish masculinity and misogyny with some people stating that masculinity is part of the culture. This underscored the opportunity to focus on messages that do not portray masculinity as inherently bad but make people more aware of toxic aspects of masculinity which can lead to the mistreatment of women and girls.

Analysis of peer pressure narratives highlighted the prevalence of the topic among young adults, however, many of them indicated that they value individuality and desire to resist peer pressure. Based on this insight, one of the main themes emphasised throughout the series was acknowledging the social pressures men often face to be hypermasculine but promoting introspection and individuality.

Other common narratives from public posts included men critiquing feminism as promoting a double standard or as a western ideology, as well as expressions of disdain for promiscuity directed toward women. These insights helped us understand the sensitivities and allowed us to ground the series in the relevant historical and cultural context.

The ‘What Makes A Man’ Docuseries

Incorporating the insights, the MTV SAF team put together a docuseries, MTV Shuga: What Makes a Man, that addresses gender-based violence by reshaping thinking about masculinity as a whole and prompting self-reflection. The docuseries consisted of three episodes which one broadcast week apart starting on March 1st with the final episode airing on 15th on MTV Base (DSTv Channel 322). The series aired on FB Watch and YouTube. The series showed the host talking to a variety of people including family members, influencers, GBV survivors, GBV perpetrators and celebrities about the epidemic and then reflecting on their responses. Some of the themes include the effect of corporal punishment and bullying in promoting a violent response to solving problems, discussions of what it means to be a man, conversations from a survivor’s perspective and the journey to healing. The purpose of MTV Shuga: What Makes is to incite the audience to questions, recognising that we are all part of the issue and equally so a part of the solution. By asking ourselves "What Makes a Man?" We are learning and unlearning harmful behaviours that are going to be fundamental towards starting conversations that will drive meaningful change.

Campaigns

After launching the documentary in March 2022, the research team designed two sets of campaigns. The first set consisted of a single campaign that promoted watching of the docuseries and that everyone should work intently in order to end gender-based violence. Some of the ads included entire episodes of the docuseries, while others had promotional content. Topics discussed included the impact of gender roles, the effect of experiencing violence growing up, and the responsibility of society as a whole.

The second set of campaigns involved two educational objectives, one of which focused on challenging traditional gender roles and the other which raised awareness about the impact of violence. The ads showed clips of interviews from the docuseries, covering interviewee’s opinions on what it means to be a man as well as their experiences with violence. Although the main goals of the campaigns centred around gender roles and the impact of violence, we also investigated how the two campaigns together fared in driving interest in watching the series and promoting the idea that everyone should work to end GBV.

To measure the effectiveness of each campaign, the audience was randomly divided into two groups – those that saw the ads and those that did not. People from both groups were randomly surveyed and their responses compared to help determine whether the ads had successfully influenced attitudes.

Campaign Results

The first campaign succeeded in promoting both the ‘What Makes A Man’ docu-series itself as well as the idea that everyone should work intently to end GBV. The campaign reached 7.9 million people and the series totalled over 3 million views on FB Watch. The percentage of people who said they intended to watch the series was +2 percentage points higher among those who saw the campaign compared to those who didn't see it, and the awareness of the series was +2.5 percentage points higher. Beyond promoting the docuseries, the campaign increased the percentage of people who indicated they believed everyone should work intently to eliminate GBV by +1.2 points overall and +3 points among men. MTV Shuga was particularly impressed by the strength of the impact on men as the insights research showed that they were less engaged on Facebook than women with topics related to GBV prior to the campaign.

The second set of campaigns reached 8.3 million people and was also effective in promoting that everyone should work intently to end GBV, achieving an increase of +1.5 percentage points in the share of people who agreed with that statement (compared to people who hadn’t seen the ads). The educational content used for these campaigns worked better among women than the promotional content in the first campaign. In terms of behaviour change, the campaign that focused on raising awareness about the effect of violence failed to achieve lift on questions about the importance of protecting boys from violence, belief that exposure to violence leads to GBV, and that corporal punishment normalized violence. The campaign that focused on challenging traditional roles had more success, increasing those who indicated that it was important to challenge gender expectations for men by +2.2 percentage points. It’s also worth noting that the content worked better among women than men.

Overall, the campaign was able to achieve statistically significant outcomes for several educational outcomes according to the survey results. This demonstrates that the content resonated with the target audience.

Learnings

It is evident that social change is possible through a media approach featuring educational content, helpful tools and resources distributed through media platforms which resonate with the target audience.

“MTV Shuga has been at the forefront of using the power of storytelling to address social issues, and to drive meaningful change within our communities. We have seen this with our MTV Shuga series over the last 10 years and now again through this documentary we are driving the social change we so desperately need in South Africa. Along with our partners, we are committed to continued use of a media-first approach to effect social change by developing content based on real life stories and engaging a cross-section of stakeholders in the fight against GBV.” - Tshireletso Yvonne Diogo, Country Director, at MTV SAF

“At Meta we believe it’s important that our platforms are a place where women feel empowered to communicate and so we’ve been working with the MTV Staying Alive Foundation in an effort to reshape attitudes towards GBV in South Africa. We recognize that some online and offline behaviours can disproportionately impact women and we will continue to invest in people, technology and resources such as our Women's Safety Hub to make our platforms safer for women around the world.”-Nomonde Gongxeka- Seopa, Head of Public Policy, SADC, Meta

“The results of this collaboration were incredibly strong as we reached over 8 million people and observed positive increases for several educational outcomes according to the survey results. We’re incredibly proud of this collaboration with the MTV Staying Alive Foundation and grateful for the opportunity to support their messaging on an important issue in South Africa.” – Kadeem Khan, Research Manager, Data for Good at MetaGender-based violence (GBV), linked to both toxic masculinity and misogyny, is a well known problem in South Africa. According to World Bank data, South Africa has one of the in the world, with femicide rates 5 times higher than the global average. Instances of gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa surged during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, prompting the country’s president to. The problem of GBV has taken centre stage in recent years as there have been many marches and protests in the country in response to tragic events. Many activists in the country assert that the high rates of GBV can be attributed to the prevalence of toxic masculinity and misogyny in South Africa.

Given the importance of the issue, the Data for Good Team and MTV Staying Alive Foundation (MTV SAF) have been collaborating over the past year in an effort to reshape thinking and attitudes related to GBV in South Africa. The collaboration began with research into the most salient themes around this topic using Facebook public post data. The MTV SAF team then developed an educational docuseries ‘MTV Shuga: What Makes a Man” that used storytelling to demonstrate ways to be a man, raise children, and be in a relationship without violence. Recently the team launched two campaigns, one to promote the television show and the other to drive key educational themes covered by the MTV Shuga docuseries – challenging gender roles and raising awareness about the impact of violence.

Data and Insights to Inform the Campaign

In April 2021, the Data for Good team analysed English, to inform the development of the docuseries and campaign messages. The research found that the topic of toxic masculinity skewed toward younger demographics while abuse-related topics were most prevalent among the 25-44 age bracket. This insight showed that while young people were talking about toxic masculinity, there was also an opportunity to engage adults outside of the 18-24 age group and establish a clear linkage between hypermasculinity and gender-based violence. Furthermore, women were disproportionately more likely to post about hypermasculinity and abuse-related topics when compared to men. The lower engagement of men on the topic highlighted the importance of depicting men speaking to men about the issue in the series. We aimed to ensure that the content resonated with men and that they felt included in the discussions relating to GBV. Analysis of masculinity narratives revealed that some people sought to distinguish between masculinity and misogyny with some people stating that masculinity is part of the culture. This underscored the opportunity to focus on messages that do not portray masculinity as inherently bad but make people more aware of toxic aspects of masculinity which can lead to the mistreatment of women and girls.

Analysis of peer pressure narratives highlighted the prevalence of the topic among young adults, however, many of them indicated that they value individuality and desire to resist peer pressure. Based on this insight, one of the main themes emphasised throughout the series was acknowledging the social pressures men often face to be hypermasculine but promoting introspection and individuality.

Other common narratives from public posts included men critiquing feminism as promoting a double standard or as a western ideology, as well as expressions of disdain for promiscuity directed toward women. These insights helped us understand the sensitivities and allowed us to ground the series in the relevant historical and cultural context.

The ‘What Makes A Man’ Docuseries

Incorporating the insights, the MTV SAF team put together a docuseries, MTV Shuga: What Makes a Man, that addresses gender-based violence by reshaping thinking about masculinity as a whole and prompting self-reflection. The docuseries consisted of three episodes which one broadcast week apart starting on March 1st with the final episode airing on 15th on MTV Base (DSTv Channel 322). The series aired on FB Watch and YouTube. The series showed the host talking to a variety of people including family members, influencers, GBV survivors, GBV perpetrators and celebrities about the epidemic and then reflecting on their responses. Some of the themes include the effect of corporal punishment and bullying in promoting a violent response to solving problems, discussions of what it means to be a man, conversations from a survivor’s perspective and the journey to healing. The purpose of MTV Shuga: What Makes is to incite the audience to questions, recognising that we are all part of the issue and equally so a part of the solution. By asking ourselves "What Makes a Man?" We are learning and unlearning harmful behaviours that are going to be fundamental towards starting conversations that will drive meaningful change.

Campaigns

After launching the documentary in March 2022, the research team designed two sets of campaigns. The first set consisted of a single campaign that promoted watching of the docuseries and that everyone should work intently in order to end gender-based violence. Some of the ads included entire episodes of the docuseries, while others had promotional content. Topics discussed included the impact of gender roles, the effect of experiencing violence growing up, and the responsibility of society as a whole.

The second set of campaigns involved two educational objectives, one of which focused on challenging traditional gender roles and the other which raised awareness about the impact of violence. The ads showed clips of interviews from the docuseries, covering interviewee’s opinions on what it means to be a man as well as their experiences with violence. Although the main goals of the campaigns centred around gender roles and the impact of violence, we also investigated how the two campaigns together fared in driving interest in watching the series and promoting the idea that everyone should work to end GBV.

To measure the effectiveness of each campaign, the audience was randomly divided into two groups – those that saw the ads and those that did not. People from both groups were randomly surveyed and their responses compared to help determine whether the ads had successfully influenced attitudes.

Campaign Results

The first campaign succeeded in promoting both the ‘What Makes A Man’ docu-series itself as well as the idea that everyone should work intently to end GBV. The campaign reached 7.9 million people and the series totalled over 3 million views on FB Watch. The percentage of people who said they intended to watch the series was +2 percentage points higher among those who saw the campaign compared to those who didn't see it, and the awareness of the series was +2.5 percentage points higher. Beyond promoting the docuseries, the campaign increased the percentage of people who indicated they believed everyone should work intently to eliminate GBV by +1.2 points overall and +3 points among men. MTV Shuga was particularly impressed by the strength of the impact on men as the insights research showed that they were less engaged on Facebook than women with topics related to GBV prior to the campaign.

The second set of campaigns reached 8.3 million people and was also effective in promoting that everyone should work intently to end GBV, achieving an increase of +1.5 percentage points in the share of people who agreed with that statement (compared to people who hadn’t seen the ads). The educational content used for these campaigns worked better among women than the promotional content in the first campaign. In terms of behaviour change, the campaign that focused on raising awareness about the effect of violence failed to achieve lift on questions about the importance of protecting boys from violence, belief that exposure to violence leads to GBV, and that corporal punishment normalized violence. The campaign that focused on challenging traditional roles had more success, increasing those who indicated that it was important to challenge gender expectations for men by +2.2 percentage points. It’s also worth noting that the content worked better among women than men.

Overall, the campaign was able to achieve statistically significant outcomes for several educational outcomes according to the survey results. This demonstrates that the content resonated with the target audience.

Learnings

It is evident that social change is possible through a media approach featuring educational content, helpful tools and resources distributed through media platforms which resonate with the target audience.

“MTV Shuga has been at the forefront of using the power of storytelling to address social issues, and to drive meaningful change within our communities. We have seen this with our MTV Shuga series over the last 10 years and now again through this documentary we are driving the social change we so desperately need in South Africa. Along with our partners, we are committed to continued use of a media-first approach to effect social change by developing content based on real life stories and engaging a cross-section of stakeholders in the fight against GBV.” - Tshireletso Yvonne Diogo, Country Director, at MTV SAF

“At Meta we believe it’s important that our platforms are a place where women feel empowered to communicate and so we’ve been working with the MTV Staying Alive Foundation in an effort to reshape attitudes towards GBV in South Africa. We recognize that some online and offline behaviours can disproportionately impact women and we will continue to invest in people, technology and resources such as our to make our platforms safer for women around the world.”-Nomonde Gongxeka- Seopa, Head of Public Policy, SADC, Meta

“The results of this collaboration were incredibly strong as we reached over 8 million people and observed positive increases for several educational outcomes according to the survey results. We’re incredibly proud of this collaboration with the MTV Staying Alive Foundation and grateful for the opportunity to support their messaging on an important issue in South Africa.” – Kadeem Khan, Research Manager, Data for Good at Meta