L’Oreal Paris on Wednesday, announced the launch of its global initiative - ‘Stand Up’ in India. The French cosmetics brand, in collaboration with Indian NGO Breakthrough, introduced its bystander intervention training programme against street harassment in the country, which aims at empowering women and encouraging bystanders to intervene and support the victim in a safe manner.
Speaking about the brand synergies behind the initiative and L’Oreal Paris, Pau Gruart, General Manager, L’Oreal Paris India explains, “What L’Oreal Paris stands for is women’s empowerment. That was the question and it all started when we conducted our Ipsos research. We wanted to understand what the main issues today around the globe are for women and girls. And we saw that number one across the globe is actually street harassment, which obviously sits at the crossroads for women empowerment, because it destroys all forms of self-worth. So I would say that it’s an initiative that is perfectly aligned with our purpose as a brand.” Gruart adds that the brand also aims at training one million people under the initiative by the end of 2022. Speaking about the brand’s communication and marketing for this cause, he points out, “We are going to direct all our marketing activities towards the training. We are also seeking influencer support and brand ambassador support to amplify it.”
The training programme will help both men and women to safely intervene if they witness or experience street harassment. The initiative has already been launched earlier in countries like France, Italy, Spain and Mexico.
