Don't Be A Tool

The British Columbia Construction Association’s message is clear: “Don’t Be A Tool”. The British Columbia Construction Association (BCCA) launched a new anti-bullying and harassment campaign in April, to coincide with BC Construction Month. The BCCA, and Vancouver agency Rethink, released a series of animated spots that tackle problematic workplace behaviour with the tagline “Don’t Be A Tool”. The campaign follows a year-long research project between BCCA and the Construction Workforce Equity Project that found three behaviours — bullying, hazing and sexual harassment—to be common problems in the industry. The series of three animated videos focus on each one of these behaviours with a unique and refreshing tone. “It can help spark conversation and awareness to these behaviours on construction work sites or, for that matter, in any job," says Chris Atchison, president of the B.C. Construction Association. "Right now there are so many campaigns competing for our attention around the themes of workplace conduct, sexual harassment and gender equality,” says Morgan Tierney, Managing Partner at Rethink.”We needed to create something that would cut through and get noticed. Using cartoon characters allows us to look at a serious problem through an exaggerated, lighthearted lens, making the whole issue more approachable" Out of the estimated 180,000 people working in B.C.’s construction industry, only five percent are women—something BCCA is working to change. They’re hoping this will improve worker retention overall and increase women to ten percent within the next decade. This anti-bullying campaign is part of a larger Builders Code initiative to set a baseline code of conduction standard in construction and improve workplace behaviour. Film advertisement created by Rethink, Canada for B.C. Construction Association, within the categories: Industrial, Agriculture, Public Interest, NGO.