See it. Say it. Ignore it.

A new campaign from the Women’s Equality Party subverts from the famous ‘See it. Say it. Sorted’ strapline,  to shine a light on racism, misogyny and homophobia in the Metropolitan Police.

The campaign follows the publication of a damning report by Baroness Louise Casey last week.

The updated version of the well-known campaign has been designed by Quiet Storm and makes use of the familiar design and copy of the police promotional material.

The design looks familiar to audiences but instead of the usual helpful scene, the design shows police officers laughing as a woman is attacked by another officer in the background. Alongside the image the new revised slogan, ‘See it. Say it. Ignore it’ is intended to put emphasis on how the police, an establishment designed to protect and serve the public, is rife with misogyny which the campaign argues has been overlooked and ignored by the government, despite a wealth of hard evidence. 

The accompanying hashtag #SeeItSayItIgnoreIt encourages the public to share images of the posters and support the campaign against police misogyny and violence. 

The campaign highlights the failures by police leaders and politicians to tackle violence and abuse in police ranks. According to the Women’s Equality Party shares there are nearly 50 allegations of violence by Met Officers and staff against women each month. The cases, which are largely generated internally by officers or staff raising concerns about a colleague, are on top of a further 287 allegations against Met employees made in an earlier six-month period from October 2021 to the end of March 2022. 

To add to these statistics, further reports show that more than 1,500 UK police officers have been accused of violence against women in six months and that half of women are ‘not confident’ that police will properly investigate sexual assault and domestic abuse claims. Even Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley himself has admitted that the force has failed and let women down. 

With this campaign, the Women’s Equality Party is taking a stand against the Met’s track record. Mandu Reid, Leader of the Women’s Equality Party explained: “I am horrified by the extent of institutional sexism, racism and homophobia in the Met that has been laid bare in the Casey Review today. It proves what many of us have known for a long time, that the majority of Londoners cannot trust the Met to act in our interests.”

She continued: “The fact that the Met are in denial about the harms they have caused makes this campaign all the more vital. Enough is enough. Women are tired of platitudes and meaningless apologies from the government. The Women’s Equality Party is calling for a representative group of Londoners to be consulted on the future of policing in response to the Casey report, led by those who have been most failed.”    

To raise awareness of the issue and call for reform, Women’s Equality Party activists have put up posters across the transport network where the official campaign can usually be found. By borrowing conventions from the well-known campaign, posters will cause audiences to double-take and encourage conversations amongst the public to inspire meaningful action.