Sunday, November 06, 2005
Tomorrow, Stop It Now! Minnesota will launch an advertising campaign with a simple goal: to prevent the sexual abuse of children. While their goal is simple, the print and radio ad campaign does something that we don’t believe has ever been done before in the US—specifically target the person who is having sexual thoughts toward or being sexual with a child. The ad campaign will initially focus on the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota media market.
The ads are somewhat disturbing and address themes identified in research as having the potential to persuade people to seek help: fear of discovery; the feeling of being miserable and out of control; the role of child pornography as “rehearsal”; incest; and clearly identifying sexual attraction to children as harmful and illegal. Stop It Now! Minnesota urgently wants to reach this audience before a child is harmed. Two samples of the upcoming ads can be downloaded here and here. The following explanation of these ads come from this organization:
"The ads are based on research including in-depth interviews with adults who have sexually abused a child or who identify themselves as being “at risk” to sexually abuse a child. They have held focus groups with members of this target audience as well as with adult survivors of child sexual abuse, victim advocates, therapists, and law enforcement and corrections staff. The ads and other information about this ad campaign, are available on our website. As you will see, the ads are very direct because our target audience told us that if we want to change behaviors, we have to be direct. The ads direct people to visit our www.youcanstopitnow.org website or call our 1-888-PREVENT helpline—where they can get confidential information and referrals to help.
We are realistic about the potential impact of the ads. They are designed to reach people who know that sexually abusing a child is wrong and who are feeling anxious and remorseful about their thoughts and actions.
We have given a lot of thought to whether this topic is appropriate for a mass media campaign. We recognize that the sexual abuse of children is an uncomfortable subject and the reaction to the ads may not be unlike our reactions when we first saw ad campaigns to increase screening for breast cancer or to promote safer sex to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS.
We want to reach as many people as possible, and protect as many children as possible, with our messages offering help and information to anyone concerned about their own or someone else’s sexual thoughts or behaviors towards children.
We understand that children may see the ads and may ask questions about the content of the ads. Parents and survivors who participated in the research and testing said that it was more important to end the secrecy around the topic than to avoid a difficult conversation. In fact, they felt it was important for parents and children to discuss it. Our completely revamped website has extensive resources for parents including tips for how to talk with children.
In developing this ad campaign and in all our work, we rely heavily on the expertise and perspectives of our Advisory Board including the Center for Sexual Health, Cordelia Anderson of Sensibilities, Inc., the Jacob Wetterling Foundation, the Midwest Regional Children’s Advocacy Center, the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the Minnesota County Attorneys Association, the Minnesota Department of Corrections, the Minnesota Department of Health, Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota, Project Pathfinder, the Public Defenders Office, the Sexual Violence Center, and Survivors Network Minnesota.
We thank them for their support of our work."
As hard as it is to deal with, these issues cannot be ignored and as child care providers and advocates, this is a topic that we need to be aware of.
