The archive · Public & Social · Marketing decision · 2022
Switch Voices sends male gamers into Valorant with female voices — One Show 2023 Gold
Women in Games Argentina and BBDO made three pro male gamers play online with female voice modulators; the abuse they received became the proof.
Women in Games Argentina (WIGAr)
What it had to solve
Women in Games Argentina wanted to show that online harassment is a daily obstacle for female gamers, not an anecdote. BBDO Argentina's answer was to let male players experience it firsthand — and record the difference a voice makes.
How it works
In November 2022, Women in Games Argentina (WIGAr) and BBDO Argentina launched Switch Voices, a social experiment turned campaign. Three professional male gamers — Alfredito, Lucius and Tasher — went into VALORANT online matches using voice modulators that changed their voice timbre so they sounded female.
The players were shocked by what happened next: the moment their teammates heard a 'female' voice, the atmosphere changed. Insults, orders to leave the game and in-team conspiracies began — exactly the abuse female players describe as a daily reality.
The experiment was documented in a film released on YouTube, presenting the players' first-hand reactions as the campaign's entire argument — no statistics, just real behaviour caught on mic.
Switch Voices went on to win a One Show 2023 Gold Pencil in the Use of Technology category (Music & Sound Craft), and drew wide coverage across Latin America that pushed digital gender violence in gaming onto the public agenda.
Why it lands
- First-hand experience beats argument: the players' own shock is more persuasive than any study or statistic.
- The voice modulator isolated one variable — gender — making the before-and-after behaviour impossible to explain away.
- The experiment happened where the problem lives: in live online matches, reaching the very community that perpetuates the abuse.
- Recording the abusers' own words documented the behaviour without the campaign having to lecture anyone.
What it did
The film won a One Show 2023 Gold Pencil in Music & Sound Craft (Use of Technology) and put digital gender violence in gaming on the agenda across Latin America, with wide coverage from Infobae and other outlets.
What you can take
When the audience doesn't believe the problem, don't argue — stage it: let the people who deny the abuse experience it themselves, and the recording becomes evidence no statistic can match.
Since then
Switch Voices became WIGAr's most recognised work and a reference case in Latin American advertising. The One Show Gold put the campaign in award annuals, and international coverage — from Infobae to Yahoo News — spread the experiment beyond Argentina. For WIGAr, the film remains its clearest proof of what female gamers experience every day, and it continues to be used in talks about inclusion and safety in esports.
Sources
- #SwitchVoices: el proyecto que visibiliza la violencia de género en los videojuegos
- Switch Voices – Women in Games – WIGAr
- The One Show 2023: BBDO logró uno de los dos lápices de oro para Argentina
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