The problem with discussing subjects so emotive on a faceless forum is that it's extremely easy to over-react, pick people up the wrong way, or indeed misinterpret yourself to such an alarming extent that bowing out is the only option - Blaze, anyone?
Let me start by saying that my comment was not exclusively about anti-rape campaigns. It encompassed anti-rape and anti-violence campaigns but was only part of my objection.
My complaint was part of a wider beef that I have with being intimidated by the government into being a good citizen. I'm already a good citizen. Yes, I realise that I then am not perhaps their intended demographic, but I still feel slightly put out by the whole thing. Maybe that doesn't make much sense but it's how I feel. That's why I posted this in R8R rather than SPPACE. Does my whining pale beside the proven efficiency of such campaigns? Yeah, probably.
Fair enough. From reading the article on the toilet this morning, I'm not entirely sure that the entire ten percent reduction can be linked to only the ad campaign, but it seems to be a telling factor in it.Vektor T. Gecko wrote:FWIW, there's been a campaign in parts of Canada that focuses on exactly this demographic, the "rapists who don't think they are because they're not pouncing on girls in an alley" guys.
http://www.crimepreventionottawa.ca/en/ ... e-that-guy
From what I hear, it's actually been fairly effective. 10% is not insignificant, especially for something as low-tech and affordable as an ad campaign.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/bri ... le1359241/
But I still don't like it. I don't like suspicious eyes following me around a shop when I'm in to buy something. I don't like coffee shops that take my money before making my coffee. I don't like adverts on the radio telling me 'If you don't renew your car tax, your car may be seized and destroyed' or 'We're closing in on benefit cheats' or scary television detector vans on TV adverts and ominous knocks on perpetrators' doors. Again, I'm not guilty of any of these things and yet the adverts get on my nerves. The IT Crowd quite successfully parodied this type of thing. It's scarily close to the truth:
[youtube]xuxO6CZptck[/youtube]
Maybe I'm being horribly naïve and the world really would turn to shit without the regulatory hand of our elected overlords keeping the cattle in line, but it still irks.