THE joint two month ‘Standing Together’ campaign has now come to a close with tremendous success.
The campaign, led by Essex County Council and Essex Police, aimed to raise awareness of domestic abuse and provided information and advice. It also aimed to get the community as a whole talking about a subject that is often seen as taboo.
Since the campaign launched on 9th June, millions of people worldwide have been reached online via social media, online advertising and other online channels.
Page views of the main campaign web page during the two months of the campaign, June and July, totalled a massive 10,891. This is compared to 507 during the previous two months, April and May. This equates to a staggering 2048% increase.
The social media campaign, #tweetyourfeet #notodomesticabuse, which has encouraged people to stand together against domestic abuse by uploading a picture of their feet on social media, has been a success. Final counts still need to take place but it is estimated that about 1,000 photographs have been uploaded. This has included members of the public, charities, MPs, MEPs and celebrities.
Most importantly the campaign has empowered survivors and those in abusive relationships to come forward, report incidents and share their experiences.
One survivor said: “I am aware of the current domestic abuse campaign and seeing how seriously the issue is being taken and the effort to spread the awareness was what inspired me to come forward and ask for help.”
One survivor has also written a blog and others have shared their experiences on Facebook and Twitter.
Cabinet Member for Children & Families, Cllr Dick Madden said: “The figures are outstanding, I am truly pleased and overwhelmed that not only have we reached so many people, but that survivors and victims have felt empowered to come forward for support because of the campaign. This Standing Together campaign has now finished but we will continue to raise awareness of this incredibly important issue and will look to roll out more campaigns of this nature in the future.”
Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh said: “The reaction from the people of Essex and beyond has been fantastic. Survivors have told us that because of this campaign they have found the courage to leave abusive relationships. This has been the biggest campaign of this kind in Essex and I am delighted that it has been such a success, however we are not complacent and will continue to do all we can to raise awareness of domestic abuse and help those in abusive relationships.”
The full evaluation of the campaign will now be completed, with changes in calls, number of incidents and the impact of the campaign set to be analysed.
For more information, please visit www.essex.police.uk/standingtogether
