25 October 2024 – A small New Zealand charity dedicated to uplifting the lives of Muslim women across the nation has been named as a finalist in an international Shorty Awards alongside major global brands and their marketing teams. The Shorty Impact Awards honour the best and most impactful digital and social media campaigns, projects, and initiatives that address pressing global issues.
In June this year, the Islamic Women’s Council New Zealand (ICWNZ) launched the CHILL campaign to empower New Zealand Muslim women, challenge hate and gendered stereotypes, and pass the mic to local women to tell their own stories.
CHILL stands for Challenge Islamophobic Language and Loathing, and the campaign featured eight Muslim women’s personal stories told through their voices as they go about their lives – working, teaching, creating and sharing moments of joy in their communities. All videos end with the participant saying, “Just CHILL, New Zealand, we’ve got this!”– indicating the country, as a whole, can get in front of the challenges facing Muslim women.
The campaign has been selected as a finalist in the Shorty Impact Awards, an international competition celebrating social impact campaigns. Other finalists include major brands like Amazon, Doritos, L’Oreal and Searchlight Pictures, international marketing agencies and large international NGOs.
“The entire campaign was conceived in-house,” says IWCNZ National Coordinator Aliya Danzeisen adding, “We wanted to create awareness about our community and to encourage New Zealanders to challenge Islamophobic language and stereotypes about Muslim women by empowering women themselves to share their joys, triumphs and challenges in their own words. The response was far more positive than we could have ever expected.”
The campaign was produced by local production company Eyes and Ears and had a shoestring advertising budget exclusively targeting a New Zealand audience. CHILL content reached over 300,000 New Zealanders, with videos going viral locally for a small country, as well as reaching global audiences.
All awards finalists are eligible for an Audience Honor award, so IWCNZ is asking their community and all New Zealanders to get behind the CHILL campaign and vote for it as their people’s choice in both categories. Voting is open to anyone internationally.
“Watching the CHILL campaign grow from an idea into something that has touched people’s hearts has been amazing. It started as a dream, and now it’s creating real change, both in our community and internationally. Seeing this impact has been a powerful reminder of what we can achieve when we come together. For me, we’re winners already.” says ICWNZ Project Manager Shabina Shamsudeen.
Further information and campaign background:
In recent years, social media has been an increasingly hostile space for Muslims. This is no different in New Zealand, where in 2019, a terror attack killed 51 Muslims in their places of worship, forcing New Zealanders to grapple with the impacts of Islamophobia and anti-immigrant hate.
Muslim women in New Zealand face a challenging combination of Islamaphobia and gendered abuse, including increasing online hatred, physical assault and harassment, particularly for women who wear hijab.
Through CHILL, the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand (IWCNZ) sought to challenge that by leveraging the positive power of social media to connect and amplify their stories.
CHILL also sought to empower non-Muslim New Zealanders with material to challenge stereotypes when they encounter gendered Islamophobia in their wider communities. The team decided that through showcasing the diverse lives of Muslim women throughout New Zealand, CHILL would focus on the joy, strength, community belonging and leadership of New Zealand Muslim women, inspiring more people to counter hate.
Alongside a small local production company Eyes and Ears, director Calvin Sang, and photographer Ankita Singh, the creative team behind CHILL also reflects and celebrates New Zealand’s diversity.
The campaign was not without its challenges, including securing funding. After a highly competitive grant process, IWCNZ was awarded a small amount of funding from the New Zealand Government to make CHILL a reality. However, the campaign budget remained tight, and the IWCNZ team relied on their creativity, connections, and skills to ensure this campaign’s impact and production value punched above its weight.
The team also worked to ensure a high duty of care to their participants. As Aliya outlines:
“Our campaign delivery involved dedicated monitoring of social media, with clear processes in place to support our participants if they encountered any abuse through their involvement with the campaign,”
CHILL launched in June 2024 with a community celebration featuring participants and their families. Over the next ten weeks, content rolled out across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Twitter.
The campaign highlights the unique journeys, challenges and successes of Muslim women in New Zealand through eight personal stories:
- Anjuman – an assistant principal who works at a special needs school.
- Heba – a yoga and wellness instructor who provides free classes to her community.
- Samadiana – a gymnast, coach and a nursing student.
- Naeema – an artist who runs creative workshops and works in cancer prevention.
- Hend – A public servant with a PhD in Politics and International Relations, working to make organisations more inclusive.
- Nesra – a primary school teacher and former refugee who is now a teacher at the school she once attended, and proudly encourages all to embrace their multiple identities.
- Rizwangul – a former asylum seeker, a Fulbright scholar with two Master’s Degrees. and now a community worker who helps refugees and migrants settle and thrive in New Zealand.
- Ugeshni – an operations engineer, outdoor enthusiast and YouTuber working on living more holistically.
Given that CHILL confronts and provides a counterbalance to online hostility, the IWCNZ team was prepared to encounter some bad-faith engagements. Instead, they were thrilled to receive an outpouring of enthusiastic support from New Zealand and around the world.
The campaign had a shoestring advertising budget, exclusively targeting a New Zealand audience. CHILL content reached over 300,000 New Zealanders, with videos going viral locally for a small country, as well as reaching global audiences.
Some examples of the reach of the campaign include: on Instagram, the campaign teaser was viewed over 57,000 times. Nesra’s story was especially popular, reaching 55,000 views. On Facebook, Hend’s story gained nearly 14,000 impressions.
Within New Zealand, the campaign has been highlighted by a range of group, the Human Rights Commission, Race Relations Day, nationwide media like Radio New Zealand, government ministries like the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and high-profile organisations like Sport New Zealand.
Globally, CHILL has also been picked up and share.
Most importantly, the campaign has been energising and powerful for the participants themselves.
“By taking part in this campaign, I’ve felt a profound sense of purpose—helping inspire others while building awareness of the strength, diversity, and beauty within our community.” – Naeema
