A new movement called #WomenCannes was launched with a mission to raise the visibility of women at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and fight the sexual misconduct in the advertising industry, and part of this mission is their call to women to wear all black at the festival.
“The Cannes festival sets the scene for much reported and unreported sexual misconduct in advertising. As long as women remain underrepresented at senior levels, and on stage winning awards, this will remain true,” reads the mission statement on the website of the movement.
“So this year, we will wear black during Cannes as a statement of solidarity and safety for those who attend. And because a lot of deserving women are still left behind.”
The website includes the hashtag #TimesUpAdvertising, which is a US-based group which similarly points to the issues women face in the advertising industry, and especially sexual harassment and gender inequality.
This initiative mirrors and upgrades on many earlier initiatives aimed at empowering women, which have marked numerous festivals recently, most notably the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements.
