Not all abuse is physical but any abuse is inexcusable is the argument driving the new Thinkerbell and Our Watch campaign.
Violence against women awareness and prevention organisation, Our Watch, has teamed up with creative agency Thinkerbell to bring awareness of the prevalence of non-physical violence against women in Australia.
The campaign, called No Excuse For Abuse, pushes for an increase in awareness regarding the harmful effects and commonality of non-physical forms of abuse, including financial, social, emotional/psychological, technological and spiritual abuse.
The campaign, running primarily over social and digital channels, uses the portrayal of emotive yet relatable relationship situations in order to endorse intolerance of abusive behaviour within relationships.
"We have chosen several powerful stories that help illustrate that there is no excuse for abuse," says Thinkerbell co-founder Jim Ingram.
"We've attempted to drive the point home by ensuring that not only the words spoken when trying to make excuses, but the accompanying supers are muted and blurred respectively. This should make for an interesting user experience when viewing the ads in social media environments."
One in four women are experiencing or have experienced emotional/psychological abuse from a current and/or former partner. This statistic shows the importance of the campaign, with No Excuse For Abuse being the only nation-wide campaign for non-physical abuse in Australia.
Our Watch director of marketing and communications Jilly Charlwood says: "Our Watch was created to drive nation-wide change in the culture, behaviours and attitudes that lead to violence against women and their children. Increasing recognition of what constitutes violence is crucial to ensuring that the community challenges all forms of violence, both physical and non-physical."
"We are immensly proud of the No Excuse For Abuse campaign and believe it will make a powerful contribution to raising awareness of non-physical abuse."
