The Advertising Council Inc. yesterday began a public service campaign with nonprofit Childhelp USA to encourage adults to intervene when they suspect child abuse.
Created pro bono by Ogilvy & Mather, New York, the ads will be distributed to media outlets nationwide for placement on donated media time and space. The campaign follows a recent Ad Council effort to direct Americans to www.ready.gov, a government site to prepare against terrorism.
The Childhelp USA campaign covers television, radio, print, out of home, telephone and the Internet. Ads show people wearing “child abuser” labels on their coats, T-shirts or bags to stress that anyone can be a perpetrator and often they are not recognizable. The tagline is “Trust Your Instincts.”
Viewers, readers or listeners are asked to call the anonymous and confidential Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline at 800/4-A-CHILD for professional counseling or visit www.childhelpusa.org for information.
Founded in 1959, Scottsdale, AZ-based Childhelp USA assists more than 161,000 children and adults yearly whose lives have been traumatized by child abuse. The charity also runs residential treatment facilities and child advocacy centers. It offers group homes, foster family recruitment, training and certification plus child abuse prevention, education and training programs.
The Childhelp USA campaign, launching during National Child Abuse Prevention Month, is one of many public service efforts commissioned by the Ad Council. The 60-year-old New York nonprofit rallies ad agencies and media to produce and promote public service ads. Last year it got $1.58 billion in donated ad space and time from media outlets nationwide.
