Campaign Archives
Myths and excuses are used to diminish the magnitude of violence against women and children. The Excuses Campaign declared There is Never an Excuse.
Excuses Campaign
Six months after the end of the Prevalence campaign, the Excuses campaign was launched. This was conceived primarily as a bus campaign and directly challenges the excuses used by men to avoid taking responsibility for their violence:- Blame the woman, blame the drink, blame the weather.
- Domestic Violence - There is No Excuse
- Premeditated, Secret, Frequent, Violent.
- Child Sexual Abuse - There is No Excuse
The bus campaign took the Zero Tolerance message all over the city of Edinburgh and to outlying housing estates. The final bus slogan There is Never an Excuse again ends with an unequivocal statement on male violence against women and children.
The placards in the main shopping street were again used to maximise the campaign's profile by displaying statistics and reinforcing the Excuses theme. Leaflets and other information were circulated throughout the city. The Council's Gardens' Department planted flowerbeds with the campaign's now familiar Z logo.
Banners and flags also provided low cost ways to keep the momentum going. Love it or loathe it - people were talking about Zero Tolerance and the issues it sought to raise. Generating debate amongst the public at large, and giving a clear message that this is an issue that affects everyone, has played an important role in breaking some of the silence that surrounds domestic violence, child abuse, rape and sexual assault.
