Thanks to Cambridge Analytica, people have become hyperaware of the issues related to their online privacy, particularly within Facebook and Instagram. But privacy is not only undermined by corporations and governments but also by parents and teachers. In the US, 92% of 2-year-olds already have an online presence. Given the searchable, shareable, long-lasting nature of what’s published on the web, this dual role of parent and publisher raises a host of questions about privacy, consent, and the parent-child relationship more broadly.

BACKGROUND

If there’s one way in which the new generation of parents differs from their parents, it’s their relationship with technology. Smartphones made it easy and cheap for parents to take pictures of their kids and quickly upload them to social media. From potty training to bath time, social media is flooded with pictures of kids’ private moments. While parents are naively posting photos they think are cute, they don’t have a real understanding of the possible danger involved. That danger can take the form of sexual exploitation and abuse, and its the reason the Child Rescue Coalition, a partnership of child exploitation investigators, police officers, digital forensic experts and prosecutors, wants to make parents think twice before they post.

Creative Insight

Instagram provides easy, anonymous, on-demand access to pictures of kids’ intimate moments. Hashtags like #nakedkids #cantkeepclothesonhim #NakedToddler #BabyButt #SinkBath #LovesToBeNaked are not only popular among parents, but also among pedophiles searching for photos of naked or near-naked children. While we couldn’t simply shut down all Instagram hashtags that overexpose kids and make them vulnerable to online predators, we realized we could take over those hashtags and turn them into a powerful tool to educate parents. And that’s what we did. We invited people to join Child Rescue Coalition and flood 100+ dangerous hashtags with pictures of kids holding Privacy Please signs. A simple and iconic way to warn parents that not every single moment of their kids’ lives needs to be shared on social media.

STRATEGY

We really didn’t want to scare parents into not sharing pictures of their children, but to really educate them that they need to be checking their privacy settings, making sure they don’t overshare details that give away their location and name of that child and really making sure they’re not overexposing nudity.

EXECUTION

In April, the Child Abuse Prevention & National Sexual Assault Awareness Month, we launched the @kidsforprivacy movement. On April 3, in the middle of the night, we flooded 100+ Instagram hashtags with thousands of pictures of kids holding Privacy Please signs. On the following morning we released a YouTube video inviting people to create their own Privacy Please signs and share them on Instagram using one of the hashtags that make kids vulnerable to pedophiles. On the same day we also launched an educational hub on Instagram called @kidsforprivacy where parents could learn how to post safely and protect their kids’ private moments from online predators.

RESULTS

Starting from the U.S and spreading the word across all continents, people began to discuss how much is too much when it comes to sharing kids’ lives on social media. In one week, we received coverage in outlets like ABC, Univison, The Independent, The Times of India and Al Jazeera, with more than 160 million earned media impressions, while 90% of coverage featured visuals of kids holding Privacy Please signs. After we looked at how many impressions were driven from this campaign and applying a value of $14.52 per thousand, we can assume this would have cost $2.32MM in media to achieve the same results. Child Rescue Coalition saw a record number of donations, a 95% increase in site visits and reporting more global press visibility than ever before. As our client is a nonprofit, we delivered these high-impact results with no paid media support.