Weapons made out of words highlight dangers of verbal abuse in China
Ogilvy China has released a video to showcase the results of a campaign that highlighted the dangers of verbally abusing children.
The campaign for the Center for Psychological Research, Shenyang, took phrases that were used against juvenile offenders when they were children, such as ‘Moron’ and ‘You’re good for nothing’, and turned them into weapons.
The words, crafted from steel by a local artists, were displayed at an interactive exhibition in a highly-traffick shopping center in Shenyang.
Watch the case study video:
The campaign also includes a microsite.
“Verbal abuse is a kind of emotional abuse that is learned behavior. Unless the cycle is broken, the lasting effects can extend into adulthood and the abuse will likely be passed on from one generation to the next,” said Dr Jun He Jiang, director at the Center for Psychological Research, Shenyang.
Ogilvy claims that more than 30 websites (including Chinese government websites) carried reports of the project, amounting to a reach of 3.2m.
Credits
- Project Title: “Words can be Weapons”
- Client: Center for Psychological Research, Shenyang
- Creative Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Beijing
- Creative Directors: Graham Fink, Juggi Ramakrishnan, Wilson Chow, Doug Schiff, Xingsheng Qi
- Designers: Yong Xie, Xingsheng Qi, Soonguan Poh, Jason Wang
- Copywriters: GuiLin Bo, Chuyu Li, Juggi Ramakrishnan, Wilson Chow
- Art Directors: Xingsheng Qi, Xiaodong Xiao, Lei Fu, Kaixin Li, Yong Xie, Fei Wang
- Video Editor: Morris Ku
- Creative Technologists: Eric Wu, Rita Yang, Quentina Yang
- Web Designer: Jason Wee
- Film Producer: Jing Li
- Social Media Leads: Jeremy Webb, Bob Wang
- Content and KOL Manager: Ben Xu
- Platform Technical Support: Frank Chen
- Exposure: Digital, offline event, social media, outdoor
- Music Producers: Massive Music, Shanghai
Such uses of verbal and emotional punishing ‘discipline’ arise from the desire to quickly enforce others into certain behaviour, without realizing the adverse effects of instilling such hateful and bullying treatment into young impressionable minds. It’s just a thoughtless and insensitive way that they know of change others.
Such traditional obsolete method is totally different from the graceful way of taking time and energy to slowly help others rationalize into changing their behaviour.
Tourists from Mainland China have been getting headlines for their ungracious behaviour when they travel. The recent clamdown in Thailand against Chinese tourists is a good example. Their harsh behaviour can also be reflected at the throwing of water bottles at MAS employees by the Chinese families of victims.
Brawling Chinese tourist group thrown off plane at Phuket airport
http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1430653/brawling-chinese-tourist-group-thrown-plane-phuket-airport
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/04/15/not-in-moat-chinese-tourists-with-no-experience-abroad-irk-locals-in-thailand/
Reply“Some Chinese media commentators say improper behavior is often an extension of domestic habits. Wang says many Chinese tourists are rural people who recently acquired money through land sales but have little education and speak only their own language.”
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