Domestic abuse charity subverts Valentine’s Day messages of love
A domestic abuse charity in has turned the sentimentality of Valentine’s Day on its head with a campaign that highlights the darker side of love for some women.
New Zealand’s Women’s Refuge is placing Valentine’s Day cards with a traditional exterior and a sinister message inside in retailers in Auckland and Wellington.
On the cards, people are urged to text 2026 to make a $5 text donation.
According to Women’s Refuge, some regions of New Zealand saw a near 100% spike in the numbers of women seeking help over the Christmas period for violent abuse, with a 12% increase last year in the numbers of women and children using their safe houses.
“We designed the campaign to encourage conversations and help those suffering to make a change,” said Livia Esterhazy GM at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellington.
The agency behind the campaign was Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland.
There is also a radio element to the campaign:
topics
Valentine's Day
Impressive idea! Disturbing… but it works.
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This is fantastic. In your face and honest.
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Brutal and effective.
Hopefully the offenders who need to stop this behaviour will be impacted by it.
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Chilling.Awesome.Breathtaking. Congratulations.
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Bloody NZers. They always do such nice work.
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So it’s aimed at women?
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Sad. But oh so true.
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Violets are blue,
Roses are red,
Get back in that kitchen,
Or else you’re dead.
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Disturbingly brilliant.
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That gives me chills. But S&S, that is pure magic.
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If you want to hear more about this campaign listen to the interesting take on a gesture of love in our radio adverts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV8ogNCV40U&feature=g-upl&context=G22383a3AUAAAAAAAAAA
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Hi Sue,
We’ve added the radio ad to the end of the story – thanks for the link.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Arresting idea and execution. Nice one.
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As Jake Heke used to say “Cook me some eggs”
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Chilling. Disturbing. Honest. Brutally Honest. Wow!
Well done SS
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It’s a donor fundraising campaign; more about getting people to donate than getting the message of DV out… brilliant execution, very confronting…
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This sucks! It’s like giving an excited child a wrapped Christmas present which contains nothing–because that’s what some underprivileged kids get for Christmas. Saatchi and Saatchi Wellington should be capable of finding a way to achieve their goals without fucking over the whole human sentiment for the rest of the population. It’s all so up-your-bum adland, as all the above comments prove.
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wow – so honest & a very creative way to highlight some real issues women face.
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Is it wrong to suggest some of these get sent to those ladies who were expressing their desire that Chris Brown come and “beat them up” on Twitter yesterday?
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Dark. Brilliantly dark.
Tim (or Sue), do we have any more detail on the distribution strategy other than ‘placing in retailers’? I’d be curious to know if the cards will be hidden amongst ‘real’ cards, sent as DMs, etc…
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Kiwis are so creative. Awesome campaign, I absolutely love this campaign (but if you don’t f’ing publish a story about my next one I’m going to hunt you down)…
Just being in the spirit…
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@Peter Rush… Does this campaign make you feel bad?
Must be hitting a bit close to the bone…
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Brilliantly clever.
P.S. Someone please send Peter Rush some flowers!
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@Marie The campaign is aiming to stop the kind of irratic behaviour you just displayed. Clearly went over your head.
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Disturbing but very compelling. Made me donate.
Great work.
Like jeanette_kc thought, I’m interested in the distribution of the cards.
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Amazing stopped me in my tracks…maybe someone should send the collection to those who voted for Chris Brown’s win at the Grammys this year???
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@Alison F. That was so desperate.
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KISS, it’s always brilliant in how well it works! Has certainly made me sit up and take note. And dust off my white ribbon…
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A much needed reminder on a very exclusive day….it ain’t all hearts and flowers for everyone
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Brilliant? It’s a first thought idea.
And lets see how many donations it gets. Plus it has been done to death….
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@ Roberta – clearly the joke went over yours.
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@Peter Rush….
agree.
You be fairly critical and get hit with that.
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Any cards about abusive women?
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Nope Tom, well spotted.
None about stupid fuckwits either, sorry.
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Any cards about abusive wives or is there no such thing as abusive females? How about baby killing mamma’s?
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So, groucho, you’re one of those mongrels who laughs at men and boys because they’re abused by women. That happens in my country too.
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@Krigsman & @gwallan you fucking morons the campaign is for Womens Refuge so why would there be cards about men?
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@ Groucho —
You are correct, this is a women’s refuge. With that said, are there any cards about women who fake domestic abuse as a way to gain child custody leverage?
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No Tom there aren’t. Again well spotted.
And there are still none for stupid fuckwits either. Never mind, perhaps they will do one for people who fake idiocy for you.
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Groucho, you need to chill out. You’re beging to sound just like the abuser type these cards warn against.
It’s been know for some time now that females are every bit as violent toward their partners as men. So why do women’s groups continue this (going on forty years now) hate campaign agaist males? We know why charities do it.$$$$$
http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm
“”SUMMARY: This bibliography examines 282 scholarly investigations: 218 empirical studies and 64 reviews and/or analyses, which demonstrate that women are as physically aggressive, or more aggressive, than men in their relationships with their spouses or male partners. The aggregate sample size in the reviewed studies exceeds 369,800″”
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Krigsman the comments are not about abusive women, the cards are not about abusive women, they are about men abusing women.
Nobody doubts there are some abusive women but even someone as clearly dim as you could not possibly argue that a Womens Refuge should be distributing cards about them, thats a job for a mens’ refuge. So, if you are that concerned about abusive women, instead of whining like a child get off your arse and do something about it.
And, if you have had a bad experience make sure you examine how much you might have contributed towards it because reading what you have written using three identities above it seems you may have a wee problem of your own.
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