Queensland taps on true stories to highlight dangers of online grooming in Australia
The Queensland Family & Child Commission (QFFC) is shining the light on the dark side of online conversations, highlighting how perpetrators exploit technology to commit their crimes and put young people are at risk.
Created by VMLY&R Brisbane and called ‘Online Grooming’, the campaign is a series of short and long-form videos using the analogy of a bear and mousetrap to target young people, their peers and parents.
The campaign highlights the ‘traps’ used by predators to draw in their victims through online chats, based on real transcripts from Task Force Argos, the branch of Queensland’s Police responsible for investigating online child exploitation and abuse.
According to QFFC, online grooming was a crime that often flourishes in the dark, the campaign needed "to bring the topic out into the open".
They also worked in conjunction with a team of young people 13 to 16 years old providing guidance and insights to ensure the campaign was genuine, credible and believable.
“Kids have blind trust and unquestioning curiosity when it comes to their online behaviour. They don’t see that oversharing online is not safe for them and are falling into the traps of online predators," said
A poster has also been created to be displayed in schools to show the ‘traps’ and ‘hacks’ of online conversations, and to drive people to a special website for more information.
