This week two FHM writers in South Africa upset most of Twitter with tasteless jokes about rape. I think this is a good opportunity for a magazine that is uniquely placed to influence a section of society that often gets alienated in discussions about gender-based violence. Who knows? Maybe something like this could achieve positive social change. These are some very broad ideas about how I think they could do it.

1. FHM
Rape
Culture
Campaign
Proactive
Communication Strategy
Sarah Britten
July 20 2013

2. The Challenge
How to take social media
outrage, gender based
violence and a lad magazine
and turn all of this into a
campaign that (might)
achieve genuine, positive
social change.

3. The Background
2 FHM writers made really
stupid, really offensive
jokes about corrective
rape.
This is what happened.
Stupid
offensive joke
Stupid
offensive joke
Unwise
offensive joke
(It’s
corrective, not
correctional. Just

4. Technically, I’m a
target of that joke.

5. This, if you’re not certain,
is corrective rape.
“”Corrective”is ironic..

6. A lot of people
were unhappy
about those
jokes.
Max and Montle got into
trouble with their boss.

7. (Although a lot of it doesn’t
read like an apology at all)
So they apologised.

8. We haven’t ended up with
anything useful though.
.
To some, Max and Montle
look like victims. Nobody
wins.

9. 1. Rape culture is sustained by
an entire social context.
LET’S LOOK AT THE
SITUATION.
2. You’re never going to combat it
unless you address those who
perpetrate it as well as those who
are
victims of it.
3. And that means you need to
understand your target audience.
Academic
feminist hat
(I’m thinking about this with
my pragmatic marketing hat
on, not my academic
feminist hat.)

10. There is an
opportunity here.

11. Because of its
readership, FHM is the
one magazine that could
make a difference to
combating rape culture.

12. Guys who read FHM are not going to
change their behaviour or attitudes
because other people tell them to.
INSIGHT NO 1

13. Guys who read FHM are more likely to
change because they want the
approval of other guys (and hot
women).
INSIGHT NO 2

14. Don’t tell them
what to do.
WHICH MEANS

15. Ask them how they
would solve the
problem.
INSTEAD

16. What you really want, is
to make it
horribly, pathetically
uncool to promote rape
culture.
>Insert
tasteless rape
joke<
Bro, don’t
do that
*totes awkies*
Carcinogens

17. But how?
Here’s a suggested
step by step guide.
a complete
Douche
The complete A-z
g u i d e t o
not being
Guy found
when I
googled
“douchebag”

18. Recommendation
STEP 1: Ask your readers how they would combat the
problem. Have honest conversation where guys open
up about what really goes on. Maybe even give away
prizes to participate.

19. STEP 2: Get the women you feature in your magazine to
speak out against rape culture. And remind guys that
women don’t respect men who don’t respect them.

20. STEP 3: Get male
role models to
speak out
against rape
culture.
(Preferably the
kind of guys
that every
other guy
wants to be.)

21. STEP 4: Make heroes of ordinary FHM readers who
are prepared to speak out. Give them cool prizes.
Make being a decent guy a mark of social status.

22. Bring your advertisers on board.
Make more money being
the good guys. What’s not to love?

23. See? Easy.
(Ok. Maybe not. But still.)
Dr Sarah Britten
Strategic Partner
Twerker in training
@Anatinus
sarah@usesoap.co.za