The Association of Alberta Sexual Assault Services (AASAS), an umbrella organization that works to increase public awareness of sexual violence, has launched a province-wide awareness campaign aimed at educating people about how to better respond to victims of sexual assault.
The eight-week “I Believe You” campaign was conceived by Calgary-based Cause & Effect Marketing in association with Oakville, Ont.-based Infinity Communications.
It is built around three TV spots – a pair of 30s and a 60 – as well as radio, posters, online banners and social engagement including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, all using the hashtag #IBelieveYou.
The campaign is intended to eliminate what AASAS said is one of the biggest barriers to reducing sexual violence: Victims keeping quiet because they think nobody will believe them.
Funded by the Government of Alberta, the campaign is supported by 23 post-secondary institutions as well as dozens of community agencies and six government ministries: Human Services, Health, Justice, Status of Women, Education and Innovation & Advanced Education.
Media partners include Shaw Media, Bell Media, Newad and SOS Safety Magazine. The campaign is also using the online “crowdspeaking” platform Thunderclap, which enables people to band together online to spread a message.
The TV spots focus on people who have been sexually assaulted telling a friend or loved one what has happened. In the dialogue-free “BFFs” spot, for example, two young women sit together on the hood of a car while a series of supers relay their story.
The campaign is skewed primarily towards young women, since the majority of victims of sexual assault are young women in their teens and twenties (they are also most likely to reach out to a friend or family member) but also features a male-focused version, recognizing that sexual assault can impact all genders, sexual orientations and ages.
In a pre-campaign survey of 1,001 Albertans 18+ conducted by Leger, only 15% strongly agreed they would know how to respond to someone reporting a sexual assault. The campaign objective is to increase that number.
“It’s one of those issues that’s really hard to tackle,” said Joni Avram, principal at Cause & Effect Marketing. “It’s not an easy conversation to have even with those you’re really close to.
“It’s about the average person who can have a significant impact on the life of a sexual assault survivor,” she added. “We wanted to frame them as the hero of the story, in the sense that by understanding how to respond you can have a very significant impact on somebody’s life and your community.”
According to research conducted by AASAS, 97% of sexual assaults go unreported. The campaign’s rationale is that educating responders is a form of prevention because people who have been sexually assaulted are more likely to seek out help and justice if they receive a positive response.
Research suggests there are 24 sexual assaults per 1,000 people every year in Canada, which translates to more than 800,000 incidents a year. Assault can have long-term effects on people’s lives including issues related to both mental and physical healthy, with personal and social costs pegged in the billions of dollars.
