Lately we've had a rerun of the "To violence against women, Australia says 'No'" advertisements. They've been all over the television (on one occasion I saw the same ad three times in one break) and there's billboards sprouting the slogan all over. On the other hand, instances of both domestic violence and rape, especially gang rape, are up by more than 50% on last year. Seems to me that, to violence against women, large portions of Australia have said "yes".
4 comments:
It might just be me, but I really like some of those ads. Not particularly the ones where a bunch of people just sit around making excuses, but the "you might as well be helping" one... that one left me sitting there with my mouth open in shock. I couldn't believe they went that far. I thought it was fantastic, in terms of frankness and impact if nothing else. Seems to me that if you have to champion a cause such as this, hoofing the viewer in the proverbial guts with something like that is the only strong way to approach it.
Oh no, I agree with you. I think it's quite an effective ad campaign, speaking to the major problem with that kind of violence which is silence: the victims generally end up feeling that it is their own fault or fail to report it out of fear. So I'm all for the advertisements themselves. It was more the fact that the statistics contradict the statement and it very much sucks. I mean, rising crime rates in general is a bad thing but this kind of violence is something I find especially reprehensible so it goes double for me on this.
Umm, I think that the increased numbers are more related to an increase in the number of crimes reported than an increase in the number of crimes themselves. And I can't help but think that increased reporting is a slight positive in an otherwise bleak problem (even if it makes that numbers look bad). I also think that the ad campaigns are a big part of increased reporting, a direct result of demystifying domestic violence, and trying to remove the stigma which is attatched to being a victim.
Ta DA!! I posted a comment! I've been reading for a while, but always feel much too stupid to post. I normally get half way through writing and delete everything. But this time I'm pushing the "Publish" button.
Yay! Bri! You definitely have a point, given how often these crimes go unreported and given that the point of those ads is to encouarage people to report them.
Post a Comment