2016 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

When Dubai’s Community Development Authority (CDA) launched its 24-Hr Child Protection Helpline & Centre, Sexual Abuse was revealed as a growing problem. Speaking further with counsellors it was evident that Paedophilia often began under the pretense of a massage given by or to children, from people close to them. CDA did not have the funds for a full fledged media campaign. Instead, we used this opportunity to harness a low-cost medium unique to our city, Massage Parlour Cards. Using the insight that nobody could ignore the medium, CDA created custom business cards with faces of young children and the helpline number. Messages at the back gave the message. These cards were then distributed across Dubai. For $1000, 5000 cards were printed and left on cars across the city over a 21-day period. Within a month, the results were a 1678 calls to the centre with 142 children rescued to date.

Creative Execution

5000 cards were re-created to look like massage parlour cards. However, images of skimpily clad women were replaced by those of young children. Messages at the back spoke about the issue, and gave details of the helpline. Over 21 days, CDA volunteers placed these cards on cars in parking lots, next to other, regular massage cards. The effect was a card no one threw. As people removed the usual cards from their cars, they stopped. The shock of seeing children on these cards left them emotionally vulnerable. We had a mesage they could not overlook.

Results

In a manner of months, calls to the helpline showed an increase. Mainstream media expressed an interest in supporting this activation further. For a total budget of 1000$, a medium everybody disliked has now become a powerful tool against child sexual abuse. Till date, there have been 1678 calls received. 1400 cases are still open. The ration of locals to expatriates was a 60:40 142 children have been rescued. Other government bodies have expressed an interest in helping CDA with more card printing and distribution.