#trending: S’pore non-profit that staged TikTok video of man harassing woman sparks debate on when to step in to help others

SINGAPORE — A young woman is harassed by a man as she sits alone outdoors near Marina Bay Sands. If you saw this, what would you do?
A recent TikTok video put up by non-profit organisation The Colours Foundation shows a social experiment with a young woman caught in such a scenario. Both the woman and the man are played by actors.
The aim of the social experiment was to see how real-life passers-by would react, and by extension, to encourage people to take action and demonstrate kindness and empathy.
The Colours Foundation is the non-profit arm of social enterprise Colours Global Group, which also runs a corporate social media creative agency, The Colours Studio. The studio’s work funds its non-profit arm.
The foundation serves vulnerable communities in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, and also mobilises people to serve those in need.
Responding to TODAY’s queries, Mr Isaac Ong, founder of Colours Global Group, said that the social experiment titled RUOK aimed to encourage people to be more aware of those in need around them and to support them.
“It is also to celebrate the good in all of us,” he said.
“We fundamentally believe that there is good in everyone and that even when nobody’s watching, we will — more often than not — do the right thing and take action.”
Mr Ong said that the social experiment was filmed in late June.
It was first published on the foundation’s Instagram page, and then posted on its TikTok channel on Wednesday (Sept 4).
Since Wednesday, the video has been viewed more than 256,000 times and gotten more than 21,000 likes.
The TikTok video opens with the following question posed to viewers: “What would you do if you saw a girl being harassed?”
The video then cuts to scenes of the young woman doing different activities by herself such as reading a book and using her mobile phone to take photographs of her surroundings.
She is soon approached by a man who persistently tries to speak with her.
The man makes advances on the woman and can be heard making comments such as: “What’s a pretty girl like you doing here alone? You don’t need to act like you don’t want my number!”
In one segment, he leans towards the woman as she reads her book and tries to make conversation about the book’s contents.
The woman is visibly uncomfortable, as she leans back and shifts away from the man. She also tells him that he is ‘“getting too close” and that she was “very uncomfortable”.
Her visible discomfort quickly gains the attention of some passers-by, who are not actors but everyday folk, and they later step in to offer their help.
Some of the passers-by act as though they are the woman’s friend in order to protect her, while others offer to wait with her so that she does not have to be alone.
The TikTok video then cuts to vox pop interviews between a member of The Colours Foundation team and the passers-by who had intervened. The passers-by are asked why they had stopped to help.
One of the women said: “I have a daughter. (The situation) was intense. These things do happen a lot and she looked a bit scared.”
A separate pair of young women said that they chose to step in after the woman had said that she was uncomfortable but the man had continued to pester her.
Adding that they have had a similar experience in the past, one of the women said: “I think when you see this kind of situation, don’t hesitate to step in because it can really make a difference. The timing is very crucial in this kind of scenario.”
Several TikTok users praised the actions of the passers-by, giving their nod to female solidarity and the importance of looking out for each other.
One said: “It’s sad that this is a common thing that happens… I love women helping women.”
Another said: “Why do I feel like crying. We girls protect each other.”
Some viewers questioned the potential repercussions of such social experiments, but most still believed that the experiments would have an overall positive impact on motivating members of the public to act when faced with such a scenario.
One TikTok user said: “Don’t do this. Next time (in the) same situation, people will think it is some social experiment and don’t help.”
To this, someone replied: “Even if it’s not a social experiment… (we) should still help.”
One comment went: “(I used to roll my eyes) over social experiments but if you think about it, now that we know there’s a chance we might be a participant in future, everyone will be wary and act right.”
Another TikTok user said: “Be aware of the surrounding(s). Good job, guys. Do (the social experiment) at many areas.”
Mr Ong from Colours Global Group told TODAY that the team had chosen the scenario — of a woman being harassed by a man — because some of the women in the foundation had also personally faced similar uncomfortable situations.
“By touching on such a relatable issue faced by multiple individuals, we wanted to bring attention to real-life challenges faced by people and encourage others to help in such situations.” 
He added that the foundation tries to do such social experiments as often as it can, with each experiment designed to address real-life situations that resonate with the general public.
The scenarios for the social experiments are “carefully chosen” based on their relevance to everyday experiences and their potential to spark meaningful conversations about empathy and kindness, Mr Ong said.
In a separate TikTok video published in the same RUOK series by the foundation on Nov 15 last year, for example, the team had done a social experiment involving a young man on crutches, who had fallen while crossing the road.
Asked what the team hopes that viewers would take away from the social experiments, Mr Ong said: “We want viewers to realise that acts of kindness don’t always have to be big — but that even in small actions, like helping someone or checking in on someone’s well-being, we can make a significant difference.
“Our experiments aim to demonstrate that kindness is accessible to everyone and encourage people to incorporate more empathy into their daily lives,” he added.
“Our goal is always to inspire people to act now, hope for a better future and believe that change is possible.”