Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) launched its #RingTheLads campaign, which urges students to talk to their male friends to urge them to vote for repeal in the upcoming referendum on the eighth amendment.
The campaign’s main promotional material is a video, which depicts young men ringing their male friends and male relatives to ask them if they’ve decided how they’re going to vote in the upcoming referendum on May 25.
The inspiration for the campaign was the #RingYourGranny campaign ran by TCDSU in 2015, ahead of the marriage equality referendum. The SU’s video went viral at the time, gaining thousands of views.
TCDSU stated that the #RingTheLads aims to build upon the recent #Men4Yes movement, which has been spearheaded by the Together For Yes campaign. Male celebrities such as Cillian Murphy and Blindboy Boatclub from the The Rubberbandits have shown their support for a yes vote in recent days.
In a press statement, Communications and Marketing Officer and co-Chair of the TCDSU Repeal Committee, Úna Harty, who developed the concept for the video, said: “It’s so important that young men understand how important their voices are in this referendum and though the eighth amendment affects women directly, men must understand that their vote is as powerful a tool in change as a woman’s is.”
TCDSU President Kevin Keane added: “This is not, and can never be, exclusively a woman’s issue. This is about what Ireland we want to be- an Ireland where we stop exiling 9 women a day to the UK, where finally every person in our republic has the same access to healthcare as their neighbour. That is an issue for all of us, and hopefully this video sheds light on that.”
The #RingTheLads campaign video has been launched across all of TCDSU’s social media platforms. The Union will also be holding a voter registration drive next week, as the final day for voter registration for the referendum is May 8.
