Our Concerns (from Is it Possible to Tell People About Child Sexual Abuse in One Minute?)

As far as we were concerned, we thought that developing a short film on Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) for broadcast on the mass media meant that we would be obliged to enter an ethical and cultural minefield. We started with the notion that television was not necessarily the most appropriate communication medium for the issue. Child sexual abuse to our minds was too complex, too wide ranging and much too sensitive an issue - how would it be possible to deal with it in any meaningful way within the confines of a 60-second audio-visual? Like other societies in South Asia, Bangladeshi society is relatively conservative. This was a significant concern. Matters related to sex and sexuality are rarely discussed publicly - and on the mass media, not at all. Television viewing literacy in Bangladesh, particularly among groups who have access only to the single national broadcast channel, is not comparable to other groups who have greater exposure. We worried that the message would be lost in a too-subtle Television Commercial (TVC); at the same time an up-front approach could prove to be unacceptable. Moreover, television viewing is a family activity; we wondered how it would be possible to communicate what we wanted to our audience without upsetting child viewers or outraging adults.

We were acutely conscious that awareness creation, while essential, can be frustrating in the absence of a "what-you-can-do". Given a social context in which CSA is shrouded in denial and secrecy and within which there exist negligible redressive agents or mechanisms - what "solution" could we possibly provide? In fact, we even maintained intuitively that the lack of knowledge of what-to-do compounds the denial of CSA at both the psychological and social levels.

An over-riding concern for us as social communicators was to develop a communication item that resonated with the overall strategy of the campaign of which the TVC was to be a part. The strategy of the 3-year Child Rights Campaign (see box), which dealt with a wide range of children's development, participation and protection rights, as espoused in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, was founded on two key tenets:

• that projecting children as passive victims, objectifies and disempowers them, and does not provide an adequate impetus for change, and,
• that it is necessary to engage (through positive and optimistic images), rather than alienate (through direct accusation), adults in the promotion and protection of children's rights.

For the overall campaign, creative communication material including film spots, audio-spots, posters, print material, and packages for special "catalyst" groups such as NGOs and the media had therefore been deliberately crafted to be up beat, optimistic, non-accusatory and solution-oriented[2]. Two and a half years of planning, designing and implementing the campaign had confirmed that our approach was not only considered attractive and effective, but that target audiences were being enabled to "take home" key messages. With respect to CSA, which came in the last sixth of the total campaign period, we thought that it would be near impossible to develop a TVC that could adhere to the fundamentals of our strategy. How would it be possible to present CSA, grim and threatening as the subject is, in a way that would be positive and in a fashion that would provide an impetus for changing behavior without, at the same time, appearing facile?

Despite these very real concerns, we were keenly aware that the challenge was immense and that we were determined to rise to it. This was the first time in the sub-continent that a social communication agency had been commissioned to undertake such a task and it was also probably the first time that a national government in the region had shown the will and foresight to address such a potentially contentious subject on a state owned broadcast medium. Strong faith in our capacities as socially responsible and responsive communication professionals mitigated the trepidation of embarking on uncharted territory. We wanted to and knew we could blaze a new social communication trail, however intimidating the task.