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Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team Chicago Sky is putting an end to cyberbullying towards its athletes in a new campaign.
Made with independent creative agency BarkleyOKRP, "Block the Negativity, Post Up Positivity" seeks to bring awareness to the online threats and comments on female athletes that are often detrimental and damaging to their mental health.
In a 45-second spot, Chicago Sky players Angel Reese, Chennedy Carter, Isabelle Harrison, and Brianna Turner take turns reading the remarks people made about them on social media.
To actively combat these statements, the people behind the team have embarked on creating a mobile app that Chicago Sky players can use to identify and block negative posts.
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In a news release, Chicago Sky's CMO Tania Haladner stresses how these social media comments can heavily affect the mental health of female athletes, "and with more eyes on the WNBA, it's only gotten more challenging."
Utilizing AI, the mobile app will first be made available to the team's athletes before it makes a wider public rollout later this year.
Apart from just blocking hurtful comments, the campaign is also focusing on the positive aspects of online interactions by encouraging fans to flood their social media with uplifting messages.
"I’m so proud of our players who are lending their voices to support this initiative and help demonstrate that supporting mental health awareness is a priority that requires teamwork," Haladner shares.
The new campaign premiered in the Chicago Sky home game last August 15, which comes after an in-stadium panel discussion regarding the topic surrounding mental health.
Spearheading this panel is National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Chicago Associate VP of Policy Lily Rocha, former WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes, Chicago Sky Team Psychiatrist Dr. Ndidi Onyejiaka ("Dr. O"), and Chicago Red Stars' Cari Roccaro.
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"Block the Negativity, Post Up Positivity" marks the evolution of Chicago Sky's previous effort "The Net," also made together with agency BarkleyOKRP.
Similar to the latest effort, the program champions mental health support for women in sports and encourages people to find their community and practice mental wellness.
BarkleyOKRP Betsy Ross builds on this sentiment, expressing the team's desire to expand the possibility of how the program can support athletes with a tech component fueled by AI.
Ross continued, saying they are continually working to flood players' feeds with positive messages.
Chicago Sky's latest work lets its brand identity shine by showing concern for its own athletes' well-being.
By spreading awareness about the topic and actually doing something tangible about it, it's encouraging other entities to follow suit in ending athlete-targeted cyberbullying.
Say No to Negativity
The hero advert kickstarts with Reese reading hateful comments on her phone.
"This is the girl they say is going to make the WNBA relevant?" one says, while another comments that she "is actually awful."
Reese storms off to the courts to ease her mind, but the hurtful words follow her around.
"Lol, she disabled comments, typical woman behavior," another user writes.
The forward shoots away the pain and conquers the comments by focusing on the game.
The spot then reveals an alarming statistic: 87% of female athletes experience online harm.
Because of this, Chicago Sky is using AI to detect and block hate speech from their feeds.
The spot ends with an invitation from Reese to block the negativity and post positivity.
Previously, BarkleyOKRP embarked on an empowering campaign with car repair company Midas to highlight the company's commitment to providing excellent service to its customers no matter their gender.
Editing by Katherine 'Makkie' Maclang
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