The Lady Musgrave Trust teamed up with not-for-profit Small Steps 4 Hannah and Publicis agencies, Publicis Worldwide and Starcom, to highlight hard-to-spot signs of non-physical abuse in its latest pro-bono campaign, Red Flag Effect.
The campaign’s interactive creative film leads viewers to consider whether they would have spotted the red flags including: emotional and psychological abuse as well as financial control.
The red flag behaviours featured are informed by lived experiences of coercive control from community submissions to Queensland’s Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce.
The campaign is live across TV, Cinema, Out Of Home, Radio and Digital.
AdNews spoke with Simone Waugh, managing director of Publicis Worldwide says the Small Steps 4 Hannah foundation is the inspiration behind the campaign.
Waugh: "There were two sliding door moments that led to the creation of this campaign.
“The first was the death of Hannah Clarke and her three children in Camp Hill Brisbane, close to home for many of our Creative Community.
“The Coroner’s Report detailed the events leading up to her estranged husband ambushing her car on the morning school run.
“There were Coercive Control red flags everywhere that Hannah’s parents now reflect on in hindsight, but Police and Lawyers were hamstrung because Coercive Control is not legally enforceable.
“Hannah never saw herself as a victim because she wasn’t physically harmed but the red flags were there the whole time.”
The managing director of Publicis Worldwide recognises that not everyone can identify what coercive control looks like and accept it as an act of love rather than abuse. This was the driving factor behind the campaign.
“At Publicis Worldwide, we recognised that the big problem was that many people don’t know what coercive control is.
“The problem is many young women accept that in their relationships – control over money, clothing, social life, access to friends and family is how it is.
“The second problem is they don’t know how to get out of the relationship – they don’t know where to go. There are often serious threats made to harm as a consequence.
“So the second moment was serendipitous, when The Lady Musgrave Trust had a conversation with Publicis Worldwide about what they were doing to help women who have nowhere to go, to know where to go.
“They were in the midst of turning their Handy Guide of accommodation options and services into an Online Handy Guide – this was real tangible help women needed.
“The Lady Musgrave Trust formed a partnership and funding support to launch the Online Handy Guide with Small Steps 4 Hannah, the Foundation set up by Sue and Lloyd Clarke to support positive action to address Domestic and Family Violence.”
Waugh says the two distinct goals for the campaign were to educate the community about what coercive control is so we can all be better at identifying it and acting on it. The second goal was to provide help for women who are in coercive control relationships to help them know what to do and where to go safely, by promoting The Lady Musgrave Trust’s Online Handy Guide.
Ash Kennedy, associate creative director at Publicis Worldwide, said: “We all know what physical violence looks like, but when it comes to coercive control, it’s far less obvious. The red flags are nuanced in real life, so our campaign features them in the same subtle ways. Being able to spot them early can help prevent dangerous relationships and ultimately save lives.”
Waugh shared the creative strategies implemented throughout the campaign to ensure viewers were left with a long-lasting impression.
She said: “Creatively, it was important for us to be educated about Coercive Control. It is important we reflect on the real things that happen because it is often very nuanced, with people dominating, oppressing and trapping another person.
“We immersed ourselves in cases of Coercive Control. For example, in Hannah’s case she was not allowed to wear pink or have her own Facebook account. She was under constant interrogation over where she was and who was talking to.
“We had to ensure every example of a Red Flag we created was based on truth, and reflected reality. We need to ensure we captured the reality that a home can appear happy and functional but also help educate on what are seemingly little things, but they all add up to be significant and serious.
“All production partners immersed themselves to become educated. It wasn’t just the creative team as every scene, and every nuance in the voice and the edit became very important to capture.
“Sue and Lloyd Clarke were involved along the way to ensure we were capturing the moments accurately. We knew we did when we saw their emotional responses at key moments along the way.
“Victoria Parker, CEO of The Lady Musgrave Trust, was integral in guiding the Red Flag examples with important research sources that deeply identified the key issues, scenarios and red flags. This became important during pre-production, production and during the intricacy of the edit."
Victoria Parker said: “For more than 137 years, we have been supporting women and children to find safer home environments. We know that domestic violence is one of the leading causes of homelessness for women, and that controlling behaviours are some of the earliest and most insidious signs of domestic violence, but the signs can often be difficult to spot."
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.