Australia – The Australian Government has launched the fourth phase of its domestic violence prevention campaign ‘Stop it at the Start,’, aimed at encouraging influencers of youth to help bring up respect.
The national campaign, which was created in partnership with creative marketing agency BMF and the Department of Social Services, highlights the importance of having regular proactive conversations about respect to nurture a culture that prevents disrespect from manifesting into violence.
Titled ‘Bring Up Respect’, the fourth spot celebrates the first moments people teach respect, its impact on the children’s emotional development, and the ongoing positive impact of bringing up respect with them early and often.
The campaign was initially launched in April 2016, and its phases one to three have proved to be highly effective, with a significant decline in problematic heuristics and an increased awareness in recognising problematic behaviours. And this time, phase four aims to help people move into a proactive space, demonstrating how positive conversations result in violence prevention.
Christina Aventi, BMF’s chief strategy officer, shared that every phase has been a key step in driving action – phase one was about getting people to recognise how the seeds of disrespect can grow into violence, phase two was about people’s role in perpetuating that, and only then could they go to phase three encouraging intervention in an instance of disrespect.
“Phase four, six years after launch, moves into a less reactive space, showing the benefits of having conversations about respect as a normal part of everyday life, and how those conversations get passed on. After all, a conversation about respect is the foundation of all the milestone talks in childhood – it almost all comes back to respect,” said Aventi.
Meanwhile, Pia Chaudhuri, BMF’s executive creative director, noted that families regularly celebrate the typical milestone moments in a child’s life – first steps, first words, first day at school, but they rarely acknowledge the moments that are arguably just as important – the moments that children and young people learn and embody key lessons in respect.
“With this campaign, our goal is to demonstrate that every talk we have about respect doesn’t just make a difference to our own children’s lives, but has a ripple effect on society as a whole, as they then take these learnings into the wider world. In this phase of the campaign, it’s been great to convey such a positive and emotive message,” said Chaudhuri.
The campaign will be rolling out on 27 March 2022 across Australia, and includes TV, online, cinema, OOH, digital, social, and PR, as well as the website – www.respect.gov.au, and tools to assist influencers in educational initiatives to start conversations with young people.