Domestic Violence PSA

Strong traditions have always kept domestic violence hidden behind closed doors.
We know that only a few want to talk about it. It’s a vicious circle where the history of violence in many cases ends with murder. It is easy to judge from the outside and say: why did not the woman leave the man ... how it could happen, they looked so happy ... we have not seen it coming ... they were a very normal family ... An ordinary family. You can see the family photos and wonder: happy faces. But I’ll tell you one thing: domestic violence victims do not run around with the sign where it stands on it: this is happening in my family…
If we would care more about the people around us, if we would hear exactly what they say ... if we could hear better ... could see it ... it would be clear. The neighbors, work colleagues, teachers, doctors and family members ... You’ve missed all the signals and you overlook it every day. One should not hide it. You should report it. The times have changed. We can All help.

This Domestic Violence PSA, to be broadcast as soon as next week by Maine television stations, features photos of murdered women and children, and Gov. Paul LePage standing with a group of men who denounce the violence.

Domestic Violence PSA from MaineVOD on Vimeo.

(More after the break)

The Vicious Cycle of Violence in Various Styles

Rude to say this is beautiful but this is one the best visualizations of the term Vicious Cycle of Violence. It is from the AWARE (Association of Women for Action and Research) in Singapore.

As Wikipedia describes:

The term cycle of violence refers to repeated and dangerous acts of violence as a cyclical pattern, associated with high emotions and doctrines of retribution or revenge. The pattern, or cycle, repeats and can happen many times during a relationship. Each phase may last a different length of time and over time the level of violence may increase.
It often refers to violent behavior learned as a child and then repeated as an adult, therefore continuing on in a perceived cycle.

It is one the most important chapters in the cause marketing book: looking for a sustainable solution. That is what Aware is trying. Breaking the chain. Or even better:

“If it happens once, it could happen again.
Stop the cycle before it start.”

Two more great campaign items after the break supplemented with 6 other campaigns from our archive based on the same theme: The Vicious Cycle.

Rape: the unnoticed war crime

It took me some time to appreciate this video from the UNHCR. Because of the use of miniature figures it looks childish at first sight but the last 20 seconds pulled me over. It is that last part which perfectly visualize the hidden truth of rape as a war crime.

“Sexual violence is the war crime that generate more refugee women in Colombia. The big problem is that it’s been unnoticed.
Help stop this. http://saynotoviolence.org/”

The Adventures of Salwa: against sexual harassment in Lebanon

Nice action from Beirout, Lebanon.
Between Friday 2nd and 9th of December 2011, 2 sound trucks moved around Lebanon voicing out a message against sexual harassment. Not the regular shouts, they used the usual intimidating texts of men but in reverse meaning. Men were targeted.
The action was done by The Adventures of Salwa.

From their website (which is very informative, information is available in various languages):

Salwa is an ordinary Lebanese girl that has been selected to be the spokeswoman for the campaign launched by a group of young feminists to combat sexual harassment.
Salwa and her sisters felt that the physical sexual harassment and the verbal abuse have reached a certain point that can no longer be tolerated in all the streams of the Lebanese society, being in the streets, transportation, workplace, schools and homes.
therefore, they decided to launch this campaign to say to women who have been subjected to harassment, that the first step to combat it, is to break the taboo and start talking about it.
Salwa also decided to prove that she can take over the reins on their own using her bag with supernatural powers!

Bag with supernatural powers? See their previous video after the break.

The next action is on Saturday, 14 January 2012: Revolt against Rape.
Salwa on Twitter.

Hat tip to Mariam Fadlouallah Ricci.

Ads against child abuse are all show, no go

I’m about to go on another rant about social marketing strategy. But it’s not just aimed at this agency, this client or this campaign. It’s a very widespread problem.

This ad show’s a girl’s playhouse as her uncle’s strip club/whorehouse. Shocking. Provocative. Clever. But effective?

Depends on what the client’s and agency’s real objectives are. If they were to get their brands better known by the international ad community, mission accomplished. (I’m sure they’re also hoping to win some hardware.)

But if they really want to stop child abuse, I believe this campaign — like many similar ones — will fail.

Social marketing is about influencing behaviours. Child abusers of this kind cannot be influenced by advertising, so they cannot be the target audience. That leaves the rest of the community, especially parents, as the targets. So what does the ad say to them?

“Child sexual abuse exists” - We know that already.

“Child sexual abuse can occur in the home, and is often committed by trusted family, friends or authority figures” - We know that too.

“Child sexual abuse is horrifying” - You’d better believe we know that…

“Something needs to be done about child sexual abuse” - Agreed! But what? The ads provide no positive course of action.

And that’s the failure. The ad reminds us of things we already know, plays on our fear and disgust to get our attention, then just leaves us hanging. There has been no change in perception, behaviour or action. It is just a piece of very predictable creative art.

When are causes marketers and agencies going to stop delivering the same message, over and over, to an already-aware and motivated public?  It’s not just about getting attention, or branding, or getting awards and accolades from your peers. It’s about trying to actually change something for the better.

The upside is, if you actually visit Die Möwe ("The Gull"), you’ll find an Austrian not-for-profit that fundraises to provide essential psychological and legal services for abused children. But who will be incited to visit, besides curious adbloggers?

Another execution from the campaign, about child physical abuse, after the break.

What if I were a girl?

I’m a 30 years old guy who is quite happy with his life choices and how it is going so far. But what would my life be if I were a girl born in one of the developing countries? I know that, how I feel about my life, could be very different.

Every child has the right to…

This is the new campaign from the Dutch Children’s Ombudsman. It is all about children’s rights. Do you think the Netherlands is a liberal country?
The campaign, which includes both trailer-like videos and posters, translates the true stories of four Dutch children who have recently had their rights seriously infringed upon. We have all four stories.

Lemon Scented Tea, the agency behind the campaign: “Fortunately for both Lemon and Dutch children, the ombudsman himself, Marc Dullaert, wanted to introduce himself with aplomb.
While purposely provocative, we made sure this was a campaign for children by children. The stories are true, the scripts comprise the children’s own words and the films and posters themselves feature – yes – the children.”
For the posters the agency masked the real victim by interlacing his/her image with that of other children.

The campaign is fully integrated in the Children’s Ombudsman website. Visitors can respond to the stories and of course it is possible to contact the Ombudsman.
See also this (translated) behind-the-scenes page.

Overall tagline: “Every child has the right to be heard”.

The video above is the only one with english subtitles.
Above (and the poster below): the story of Sander, who, after his parents divorce, was forced to live with his mother. The judge didn’t listen to his side of the story.

Update:
All videos are now available with english subtitles.

Are these human trafficking ads over the line?

This first one (via I Believe in Advertising, who also provided creative team credits) is about the brutality and slave-labour conditions some women endure when they get caught up in human trafficking. The other two (after the break) take the graphic suffering even further, with line art depictions of men having sex with young girls in disgusting brothels.

I have two major reservations about this campaign. First, the cartoonishness of the execution seems to take away from the extreme gravity of the situation, reducing it to a “Where’s Waldo” level. Second, even a negative depiction of this kind of sexual activity might provoke an unintended reaction in the kind of people who would frequent such a place. (Check out the joking comments on the Copyranter source post.)

Oh, and a third one: ick.

Pimp Charming and the fairytale from hell

AdFreak posted this PSA/video from ECPAT-USA (End Child Prostitution and Trafficking), in which a little girl tells the story of being kidnapped, turned out as a child prostitute, raped, beaten and left for dead. The narrative is scary enough because it’s based on reality. But JWT superimposes it on the format of a fantasy bedtime story, making it all the more creepy.

Will it get talked about? Sure. Will it work, though?

As a parent of a young child I’m already paranoid about what predators would do to my kid. So the cautionary side of issue awareness is unnecessary and painful for the enlightened viewer.

But as a way to get the organization’s brand into the public light, shock can still be effective. And the better known they are, the easier it will be to raise funds for their outreach work in the US and abroad.

Me, I almost just want to send a mohawked Robert De Niro in there to teach “Pimp Charming” a lesson about messing with kids.

Look and Find Billy

It is done before but it is still a nice idea this print ad from Missing Children Europe: Find Billy.

Missing Children Europe is the European Federation for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children. As an umbrella organisation, it represents 24 Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) active in 17 Member States of the European Union and Switzerland. Each of these organisations is active in cases of missing and/or sexually exploited children at grassroots level, including prevention and support for victims.