Black and Blue

‘The dress’… we’ve all heard of it. In fact, it was pretty impossible to escape it with the gold and white or black and blue debate ruling social media. But it seems that ‘the dress’ has proved useful in the Salvation Army’s domestic violence against women campaign.

The compelling campaign pictures a woman lying on her side in a white and gold dress – identical to ‘the dress’ – but with black and blue bruises on her legs and her face. A graphic as provoking and socially aware as the one created by the Salvation Army would be very difficult to come by, but it seems that it has certainly been achieved by them and really does make you think.

In the advert, the question ‘why is it so hard to see black and blue?’ is asked and the caption underneath reads: ‘The only illusion is if you think it was her choice. One in six women are victims of abuse. Stop abuse against women.’

Made by Roman Originals, ‘the dress’ achieved widespread coverage last week and was the topic of many conversations in work, school and at home. According to a Buzzfeed poll taken by 3.4 million voters, 32 percent of people thought the dress was its real colour- black and blue – while a mammoth 68 percent saw it as white and gold. Many did not see the black and blue colours for a whole host of reasons, namely the lighting in which the photo was taken.

The Salvation Army’s campaign will hopefully draw in as much attention as ‘the dress’ did in its hope to raise awareness of domestic abuse against women.