Independent agency Thinkerbell has unveiled its latest work for domestic violence advocacy group Our Watch called ‘No excuse for abuse’.

Non-physical forms of abuse against women are both common and harmful. Yet awareness of the prevalence of these abusive behaviours is low.

Violence against women is not restricted to physical violence. There are many different forms of violence against women including financial abuse (e.g. forcing a woman to quit her job), social abuse (e.g. being excessively possessive or controlling of a woman), emotional and/or psychological abuse (e.g. verbal put downs and manipulation), technological abuse (e.g. accessing a woman’s online accounts without her permission), spiritual abuse (e.g. using a woman’s spiritual beliefs to manipulate her) and stalking.

This is the only national mass-awareness non-physical violence campaign in Australia, and the challenge for this campaign was to raise awareness that these forms of abuse exist, and that there is no excuse for this type of behaviour.

This campaign from Our Watch sets out to make people aware of the different forms abuse can take and remind people that there is no excuse for abuse – no matter what its form.

Margie Reid, managing partner of Thinkerbell said of the work, “Our aim was simple – to educate people that whatever excuse they conjure up to justify the abuse of women, it’s just not ok.  We hope the campaign will help people understand all of the abusive behaviours people may dismiss for various reasons are not ok and will actually do harm if left unchecked.”

Jim Ingram, co-founder of Thinkerbell said, “We have chosen several powerful stories that help illustrate that there is no excuse for abuse. We’ve attempted to drive the point home by ensuring that not only the words spoken when trying to make excuses, but the accompanying supers are muted and blurred respectively. This should make for an interesting user experience when viewing the ads in social media environments.”

Jilly Charlwood, director, marketing and communications at Our Watch said “We are immensely proud of the No Excuse for Abuse campaign and believe it will make a powerful contribution to raising awareness of non-physical abuse.”

“Our Watch was created to drive nation-wide change in the culture, behaviours and attitudes that lead to violence against women and their children. Increasing recognition of what constitutes violence is crucial to ensuring that the community challenges all forms of violence, both physical and non-physical.”

The campaign will exist predominantly within social and digital channels. The campaign ‘No Excuse For Abuse’ will be supplemented with social amplification.