The NSW Government, in collaboration with creative production company Entropico, has launched a campaign aimed at raising awareness and understanding of coercive control.

The campaign, eight months in the market and informed by research, strategic planning and creative development, supports forthcoming changes to NSW legislation that will introduce an offence for coercive control, a form of abuse where someone repeatedly hurts, scares, or isolates another person to control them.

Leading the creative and strategic aspects of the campaign were Entropico team lead and executive producer Timothy Burnett, along with Tom McMullan and Camille Bui Viet.

“Coercive control is a really tricky and complex subject. But more often than not, having strict creative obstructions can lead you to unique places. The Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) team did some amazing research, consultation and testing, and the campaign ended up being quite simple, but powerful and moving. Getting the right balance between informative and engaging is something at the core of everything Entropico does,” Burnett said.

The campaign aims to highlight the contrast between perceived love and actual abuse, helping the audience identify coercive control in their own experiences and relationships.

“Post #MeToo, we’ve seen a mass revisiting of cultural moments in film and media through a new, more enlightened lens,” Bui Viet continued. “We’re now looking back on our own experiences and questioning, was that behaviour ever really love? Our creative approach highlights this contrast between the perceived love and actual abuse in order to assist the audience to identify coercive control in their own experiences, as well as the relationships around them.”

McMullan added, “Coercive control is insidious. It hides in plain sight. And because it’s a pattern of behaviour that varies case to case, it can be difficult for victim-survivors to pinpoint exactly what’s happening to them. These films aim to communicate what coercive control feels like, and help people experiencing it [or observing it in others] make a clear distinction between love and abuse.”

Charlotte Evans was brought on to direct the campaign. As a woman and a mother of two young girls, she said she felt extremely passionate about this campaign and highlighted the passionate and talented team that pulled this together.

“The challenge with these scripts was that from a legal standpoint, we needed to show that coercive control always comprises a pattern of behaviour, so we needed multiple behavioural examples over different time periods,” she said. “Creatively I wanted to ensure that the campaign felt authentic and relatable as well as subtle but intentional all within 25 seconds. To be able to be part of a campaign that helps people recognise their or others’ current situations, has been an incredible achievement.”

Entropico’s various teams worked across the project from the pitching and strategic phases, all the way through to post-production. The campaign was produced by the NSW Department of Communities and Justice and Entropico.

The creative is running online including Social, YouTube, TikTok, DOOH, all TV including VOD, Radio/Spotify, Print Media, and out-of-home excluding billboards. In all, four hero video spots were created in varying lengths from 24 seconds to 6 seconds. There was also a stills campaign.