Creative Advertising students design public engagement campaigns with Safer Cornwall

Students on BA and MA Creative Advertising have produced campaign concepts to prevent violence against women and girls (VAWG), working with Safer Cornwall - Cornwall’s community safety partnership - and supported by funding from the government’s Safer Streets fund. 

Safer Cornwall’s brief challenged students to produce a creative campaign to promote behaviour change and encourage active bystander interventions in situations including sexual abuse, harassment, stalking and online harm.  

BA(Hons) Creative Advertising student Justyna Skowronska’s concept will go live through outdoor advertising, social media activity and presence on the Safer Cornwall website this week in support of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, an annual international campaign led by the UN which runs from 25 November to 10 December 2022.  

Justyna’s concept focuses on the positive impact of bystander intervention and will incorporate real-life experiences of receiving help from an active bystander or being the person who stepped in and safely intervened, shared by young people from across the county.  

Falmouth and Penryn are home to thousands of students, including many young women aged 16-24 – more than any other area in Cornwall. The area also has a third more non-domestic VAWG crimes than the Cornwall average – higher than other local areas but still extremely low. 

On the collaboration, Louise Knight, Implementation Lead – Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence, Cornwall Council, told us: “Young women should not feel threatened or intimidated when they go out at night. The campaign we are working on with Justyna moves the focus firmly away from victims of sexual harassment, abuse and assault. The burden shouldn’t fall on women to keep themselves safe, especially when going out at night. 

She added: “It has been great to get insight from students at Falmouth on how to raise awareness that tackling violence against women and girls is everyone’s business. I have been really impressed with the research and development that went into the resulting campaigns.” 

Lucy Cokes, senior lecturer on Creative Advertising, added: “This issue is something our students feel strongly about, and they used behavioural science theories in the development of their concepts. It will be exciting to see Justyna’s work come to life throughout Cornwall, and we hope to see it make a lasting impact.” 

Find out more about BA(Hons) Creative Advertising and MA Creative Advertising