A still image of the Christmas display at clothing store Untitled & Co. highlighting the issue of domestic violence.
Window dressing around the holidays is a competitive sport, with retailers trying to create the most fantastical vision of a Christmas wonderland to draw shoppers in.
But among the idyllic, glowing displays this year, one Christmas window is presenting a very different picture.
On Sunday, at a women's clothing store at Queen and Spadina streets in downtown Toronto, a window was unveiled with a family of mannequins around a Christmas table. The couple and their two children look peaceful, but the mannequins are rigged to a mechanical system that creates a very different scene: every 12 seconds, the father raises his hand to the mother, and she and the children recoil in fear.
Sunday was the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada, and the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre, where 14 women at the École Polytechnique were murdered.
The display was created by ad agency FCB Toronto for Yellow Brick House – which operates shelters and a transition house for abused women in Ontario's York region, as well as a 24-hour crisis hotline – and The Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses, a coalition of shelters, housing programs and other support organizations for women.
While the holidays are usually discussed as a happy time, it can also be an especially trying time for some. Incidences of domestic violence increase by as much as 30 per cent during the holidays, according to statistics provided by Yellow Brick House.
The store Untitled & Co. did not donate its window space to be used for the campaign, but is donating a percentage of its sales for the week to the organizations.
There is a message telling passersby that they can stop the violence in the window with a donation to the organizations. By texting "no more" to the number posted there, the $5 donation causes the mannequins to stay still for 60 seconds.
The window display will be in place for one week.