petitefeministe:

The next phase of a powerful advertising campaign to challenge the attitudes of teenagers to violence and abuse in relationships was launched by the Home Office today.

With 75 per cent of girls and 50 per cent of boys reporting that they have experienced some form of emotional abuse, the £1.5 million TV, cinema, outdoor and online advertising campaign aims to help teenagers recognise abusive behaviour at an early stage, before it escalates to physical violence.

In order for this campaign to succeed we need as many teenagers, parents and teachers to see the material and be encouraged to discuss and debate the issue. We hope you can help us spread the message by using our content and adding your voice to the discussion.

More Information

The adverts are directed towards 13-18 year-olds and feature young couples in a variety of settings. Viewers are challenged to identify controlling behaviour and to reconsider their own attitudes about what is acceptable behaviour in relationships.

All the adverts point young people towards a revamped website where they can find information, seek help and chat with their peers. The site is designed to encourage sharing of the campaign materials across social networks and will also host live web chats with experts. The first of these will happen tomorrow, 2 September at 5pm.

The campaign, funded by the Home Office, is the second part of a long-term communications plan to tackle violence and challenge attitudes that relationship abuse is acceptable.

The adverts first ran in February 2009 and resulted in significant shifts in awareness of the issue. Those teenagers who had seen the adverts were more likely to claim that they would take action if faced with abuse either in their own relationship or on behalf of a friend. This is a complex problem and an ongoing effort is required to continue building on the campaign’s initial success.

Core Facts

1. Abuse in relationships is not normal or acceptable and is never okay.
2. It’s not just physical violence, like punching or kicking, that makes a relationship abusive – threatening, aggressive and controlling behaviour towards a partner is also abuse.
3. 75% of girls and 50% of boys have experienced some form of emotional abuse in a relationship and 25% of girls and 18% of boys have experienced some form of physical abuse.
4. Evidence indicates a strong link between the early signs of abusive behaviour in relationships such as controlling behaviour and the onset of sustained and repeated physical violence.
5. Adverts will run 1 September to 16 October 2011.
6. TV adverts were directed by BAFTA award winning Shane Meadows, director of This is England, Somers Town, Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee among others. They ran in 2010 and are being re-run to support the 2011 campaign

(via petitefeministe-deactivated2013)