Make up
A cheerful makeup tutorial that peels back to reveal the bruises 8 in 10 Filipino children hide at home.
The translation and summary on this page were generated with AI. Some expressions or proper nouns may be translated inaccurately, so please check the English original for the precise content.
AI Translation Summary
Save the Children Philippines disguised a hard truth as a familiar makeup tutorial. A boy chats to camera as he applies cosmetics, then wipes them off to reveal bruises, as his father pounds on the door. With no paid budget, the film reached millions and lifted donations by 393%.
Cultural Context
In the Philippines, social media is woven into daily life, and vertical tutorial videos are everyday content, the exact format the film hijacks. It also speaks to how boys who express themselves differently are often disciplined into silence at home.
Entry Information
Summary
Save the Children Philippines needed to raise awareness about child abuse while strengthening its position as a trusted children's organization in a highly cluttered advocacy landscape. As a way of promoting the organization and its advocacy, they needed to bring attention to one of its causes, child abuse, and do it in a way people would not ignore. The challenge was to cut through everyday content and make the issue feel immediate. The solution was to use a familiar format, a makeup tutorial, as a way to draw people in, then reveal a reality about the high incidence of child abuse in the country (a staggering 8 out of 10 abused children). Save The Children lacked the money to support this campaign, but it achieved millions of views and a 393% increase in amount of donations.
Strategy
In many households in the Philippines, children are punished not only for what they do, but for who they are perceived to be. Boys who express themselves differently are often judged, controlled, or disciplined in ways that silence them. The numbers are staggering - 8 out of 10 children suffer violence in places where they should feel safest. Some as young as 10 years old. The strategy was based on the insight that issues affecting children are often overlooked because they are hidden behind social media, where the most active users can be found in the Philippines. By placing this difficult reality within familiar digital format, Save The Children was able to dramatize the truth behind the entertaining videos we see everyday.
Execution
A young boy records what appears to be a makeup tutorial, speaking casually to the camera as he applies cosmetics. The video feels light and familiar - just another piece of social media content on the vertical screen. As the tutorial ends, he begins removing the makeup. Beneath it, bruises slowly emerge on his face. The framing gradually widens from vertical to horizontal, revealing more of the room around him. We then hear his father loudly banging on the door, threatening the boy and demanding to be let in. What initially feels like casual content turns into a moment of fear and vulnerability. The film ends with a stark statistic about the prevalence of violence against Filipino children, followed by Save the Children's call to action to help protect children through donations.
Results
The film generated strong organic traction, reaching 1.2 million views, 9.5k shares, and 92.7K total interactions. More importantly, it drove a 217% increase in donation frequency versus monthly average and a 393% increase in amount of donations versus monthly average. Beyond numbers, the work prompted conversation around abuse and the pressures placed on children to conform.