The Department of Social Services has launched a national behaviour change campaign, Consent Can’t Wait, via creative agency BMF, urging older Australians – the influencers of young people – to check their own understanding of sexual consent.
With the tagline, “If we don’t understand consent, how will our kids?”, the campaign centres on the importance of learning, understanding, and talking about consent amongst the older generations as a pivotal step in educating younger Australians.
The hero films directed by Revolver’s Dani Pearce feature a diverse range of real Australian couples, highlighting the internal thoughts and questions many Australians silently hold about consent.
By posing a number of questions that need to be talked about, and answered, prior to consensual intimacy, Consent Can’t Wait demonstrates the necessity for older Australians to update their understanding of sexual consent to ensure it can be passed onto the next generation.
“Consent is a culturally loaded word, fraught with connotations, systemic inconsistencies, and media rhetoric. It’s also a personal and private topic, so people don’t talk about it unless they ‘need’ to,” said BMF’s chief strategy officer, Christina Aventi.
“But all across Australia, people are engaging in consent-relevant moments. Studies show that one in two of them are confused about consent and harbour questions about the topic that they keep to themselves. And, as long as we continue to hold our questions about consent silent – as long as we don’t know the answers – the next generation will too.
“We know consent is hard to define, but kids are learning more than we think, and we can’t leave it to chance and hope for the best. So, the first step is to educate ourselves and get to a shared understanding. Because before we can teach young people what’s right and wrong about consent, we need to get clearer ourselves.”
The campaign is supported by a national rollout including TV, cinema, online video, social, and OOH. In addition, the Department of Social Services and BMF have launched a website where Australians can assess their understanding of sexual consent, which also provides resources and conversation guides.
Kiah Nicholas, associate creative director at BMF, described how “from casting real couples to an intimacy coordinator on set, to wardrobe autonomy, to consent over how the scenes were set, consent was integrated into every facet of the campaign process. It was critical to us that our campaign didn’t just talk the consensual talk but walked the consensual walk.
“We hope this campaign inspires all Australians to take action and help make change possible by getting up-to-speed on, and improving their understanding of, consent. We can’t hold our questions about consent silent a second longer. Because if we don’t know the answers, how will our kids? – Learning, understanding, and talking about consent can’t wait.”
See also: BMF promotes Tom Hoskins and Dave Roberts to GCDs
Credits:
Client: Department of Social Services
Branch manager, campaigns and strategic communication: Mardi Stewart
Director, campaigns: Turong Francis
Co-campaign manager: Nicole Bell
Co-campaign manager: Lauren Jeffrey
Campaign officer: Laura Griffin
Creative Agency: BMF
Chief creative officer: Alex Derwin
Chief innovation officer: Tara McKenty
Group creative director: Tom Hoskins
Associate creative director: Kiah Nicholas
Senior creative: Nathan Pashley
Head of art and design: Lincoln Grice
Chief strategy officer: Christina Aventi
Planning director: Jess Sutanto
Chief executive officer: Stephen McArdle
General manager: Richard Woods
Group account director: Victoria Vernardos
Senior account manager: Anja Cherry
Head of TV: Jenny Lee-Archer
Agency producer: Honae MacNeill
Finished artist: Jayde Chan
Creative services director: Clare Yardley
Digital lead: Sam Elliott
Digital producer: Haydon Fanning
UI/UX designer: Janet Tyler
Production director: Karen Liddle
Integrated producer: Simone Plaza
Digital Agency: Orchard
Production Company: Revolver
Director: Dani Pearce
Executive producer: Pip Smart
Post Production: ARC Edit
Editor: Phoebe Taylor
Sound production: Cam Milne/Squeak E Clean
Music: Lydia Davies/Squeak E Clean
DOP: Jeremy Rouse
Production director: Sarah Nichols