The Dialogue campaign

Eine Frau am Frühstückstisch umarmt ihre Tochter. Im Hintergrund ist ein Mann zu sehen. Die Frau denkt 'Ich bin ein Stück Dreck, er hat Recht'. Ein Infokasten ruft dazu auf, sich an eine Fachberatungsstelle zu wenden, wenn es einer Person so geht.

In January 2009, the bff, together with its member centres, started the two-year “dialogue” campaign. This was a unique poster action, during which more than 10,000 copies of different posters were to be seen across Germany. Many bff member centres were involved in spreading the posters.

Why “dialogue”?

The posters of the “dialogue” campaign show a woman in an initially rather appealing everyday situation, e.g. sitting at the kitchen table together with her daughter. At the same time though, the viewers are confronted with the terrifying thoughts of the woman:

These were the thoughts of women who suffered psychological, physical and sexual violence and who, fatally, placed the blame on themselves, not on the perpetrator. The campaign was to counter this and to encourage women to seek support: This is the reason why the telephone numbers of regional women’s counselling centres and rape crisis centres were printed on the posters.

According to the feedback, the campaign struck a note with many women affected by violence, who identified themselves with the statements made and were encouraged to approach a local women’s counselling centre. However, the disturbing message of the poster also generated interest from other people. A dialogue was thus initiated in the true sense of the word.

You will find further information on the campaign in our press release.

The bff thanks the Y&R agency, the rape crisis centre in Frankfurt and the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth for their support.